Mountain -acacia is the deciduous trees common in Zimbabwe which mostly shade during the winter and sprout new beautiful leaves in spring towards the approaching summer where beautful green vegetation beautify the woodlands when the grass is dry and when there is no other green found in the dry hot areas.
Botanical name:Brachystegia glaucescens
Chishona name:mutondo
National tree number :249
Description:A beautiful spreading tree up to 15 metres in height ,incline to develop a flat top,confined to the summits of slopes of rock hills and kopjes
The bark is smooth ,grey ,sparsely flaking in round discs.
The leaves with 10 to 16 pairs of leaflets ,or even more ;leaflets rather small ,oblong ,1,3 to 3 xo,4 to 1 cm, bluish -green to dark green above ,paler below ,apex broadly tapering to rounded ,base asymmetric, the inner side tapering ,the outer side lobed ;margin entire ;petiolules almost absent ,patiole up to 1,5 cm.
Flowers which are small ,creamy -white ,in short ,terminal ,branched headed ,or panicle up to 4x4cm .
Fruits are dark brown to purplish ,wood pod 8 to 13 cm long .
Diagnostic characteristics:This species produce good shades in high areas where you can sit whilst observing the vegetation and other far places in a cool place.This spices produce most of the vivid flush colours .
Flowering around September to October ,then fruits appear in April to July.
Distribution:The mountain -acacia is relatively scattered around the whole country.But it is more densely thick in mountainous areas such as the eastern higlands ,headlands ,and some parts of midlands.
Economic uses:The wood is the best useful general purpose timber if treated against borers.Like the mupfutis they are good to use as firewood and tobacco farmers rely heavly on this for curing.This tree during the summer produce good worms like mopane which can be harvested dried and found its way in produce markets ,supermarkets and other various food outlets.All browsers eat the leaves especially cattle goats and other plain wild animals.
Other uses:The barks the inner stripped soft ,although bitter than of mupfuti can also be chewed and help to fight constipation and kill other tape worms in the stomarch.Seeds can be eaten by small animals.
Propagation:The pod splitting explosively and immediately spiralling ,dispersing seeds at considerable distances.
SOURCE OF INFORMATION
Palgrave K.C. and Drummond R.B(1993)Trees of Southern Africa ,The Struik Group p/l ,Cape Town
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