''Schotia afra'' is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the legume family,

Fabaceae The Fabaceae or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomenc ...

. It belongs to the subfamily

Detarioideae The subfamily Detarioideae is one of the subdivisions of the plant family Fabaceae (legumes). This subfamily includes many tropical trees, some of which are used for timber or have ecological importance. The subfamily consists of 84 genera, mos ...

. It occurs in

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

. The genus was named for Richard van der Schot by Jacquin who was the director of the Imperial Gardens at Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna. Van der Schot was his head gardener.

Description and ecology

The

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

is small in stature (max. height 5 m), evergreen, with rigid branches and has a gnarled trunk. The flowers are numerous, bright red to pink in colour and are borne in small clusters during the months of February to March. They are distributed throughout the tree. Flowers produce copious amounts of

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

which attract

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s, especially the Lesser Double-collared Sunbird and Malachite Sunbird. The butterfly ''Dantalis'' breeds in the tree. Flowers are followed by attractive, large, lime green to pink seedpods which turn brown when ripe. The seed is dispersed through an explosive seedpod, which when dry, catapults the seeds great distances from the parent plant. Seeds are produced in May and June of each year. Under normal circumstancesmstances the

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s would germinate in moist soil in late spring after the winter rains.

Distribution

The tree occurs in South Africa along the banks of dry streams and small rivers in the

Little Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hard veld") is a semi- desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ...

, the drier areas of Eastern Cape and the southern part of Western Cape.

Related species

* '' Schotia brachypetala'' * '' Schotia capitata'' * '' Schotia latifolia''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13035147 Detarioideae Trees of South Africa Flora of Zimbabwe Albany thickets