Tree Tuesday: Celtis Africana - White Stinkwood - Witstinkhout(Afrikaans)

Late Spring

The graceful White Stinkwood is the perfect shade tree for large properties and is native to South Africa, a deciduous tree in the family Cannabaceae. There are over 50 Celtis species worldwide in areas with warm temperatures and 3 species are indigenous to South Africa (Celtis gomphophylla-False White stinkwood, Celtis mildbraedii-Natal White Stinkwood, Celtis Africana-White Stinkwood).

Autumn

The Celtis Africana grows in a wide range of habitats all over South Africa from the coastlines to fynbos, grasslands, savannah, forests and mountains. They thrive in summer rainfall areas, are hardy, drought resistant and fast growing. The climate influence the growth of the tree thus their height could range anything from 7-25m tall, with a canopy spread of 3-11m.

In spring the tree is covered with greenish flowers and light green leaves, drupes of small yellow berry like fruits which turns black when they are ripe (birds, monkeys and baboons love feasting on this fruit) and deep green leaves in summer, and in winter the leaves turn yellow before dropping. The trunk is a smooth pale grey with horizontal ridges.

Winter

The White Stinkwood name was given to this tree because of its pale colour and the unpleasant smell of the cut wood. In folklore it is believed that the tree has magical powers to keep witches away. It is a medium hard wood with a yellowish colour and is difficult to work with. It is a fast and easy growing tree but has quite an aggressive root system and need lots of room for growth.

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