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''Newtonia hildebrandtii'', the Lebombo wattle ( af, Lebombowattel, zu, Umfomothi), is a medium-sized tree native to eastern Africa. It is a protected tree in
''Newtonia hildebrandtii'' is a medium-sized tree growing to a height of about . The trunk is usually rough, and the small branchlets and twigs are puberulous (densely covered with very short soft hairs) when young. The leaves are bi-pinnate and up to long, each leaf having four to seven pairs of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
.
Description
''Newtonia hildebrandtii'' is a medium-sized tree growing to a height of about . The trunk is usually rough, and the small branchlets and twigs are puberulous (densely covered with very short soft hairs) when young. The leaves are bi-pinnate and up to long, each leaf having four to seven pairs of pinnae
The auricle or auricula is the visible part of the ear that is outside the head. It is also called the pinna (Latin for "wing" or " fin", plural pinnae), a term that is used more in zoology.
Structure
The diagram shows the shape and location ...
, and each pinna having six to nineteen pairs of leaflets. There is usually a gland between each pair of pinnae. The leaflets are linear or oblong and up to long, with the underside often having raised lateral nerves. The inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
is a spike up to long composed of whitish or creamy flowers, which are followed by flattened pods up to long.
Distribution and habitat
This tree is found in eastern Africa, its range extending from Kenya and Tanzania, through Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia, to Mozambique, Eswatini andKwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...
in South Africa. Generally a tree of riverside forests, it also grows in sandy areas with a high water table, at altitudes of up to about ; these include the Southern African Sand Forest
Southern African Sand Forest is a sand forest, or a subtropical forest plant community of the tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome. It grows on ancient sand dunes in northern KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mozambique. In South Africa ...
.
Uses
The timber of ''Newtonia hildebrandtii'' is used for building construction and for making poles and implements, and for carving. The wood burns well and makes good-qualitycharcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
. Products from the tree are also used in traditional medicine
Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...
; an extract of the roots is used against worms, and an extract from the bark has been shown to have antimicrobial
An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth. Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they act primarily against. For example, antibiotics are used against bacteria, and antifungals ar ...
activity against a range of pathogen
In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...
s.
See also
*List of Southern African indigenous trees
This is a list of Southern African trees, shrubs, suffrutices, geoxyles and lianes, and is intended to cover Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The notion of 'indigenous' is of ...
References
External links
* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q13934675 hildebrandtii Protected trees of South Africa Plants described in 1880