A TREE BELIEVED TO CAUSE MALARIA IN ZIMBABWE!

A myth can believed to be true for many centuries until one braved to prove it wrong.
A great philosopher Alistotle once said a spider has six legs,no one bothered to verify this for over 2000 years until Lamark proved that a spider has eight legs.
This is the same with the fever tree ,its botanical name is Acacia xanthopholoea and the Chishona name is Chinanga or Mutataunga.
The fever tree's name derivation is that the European who visited Africa and the places where this tree is densely populated usually they get sick of malaria.However there are so many places where this species found such as places around Harare,Mutare where there is no outbreak of malaria.
In fact it takes the proof of medical doctors to acknowledge that anopherous mosquito is the only insect which cause malaria.
The fever tree is a medium to tall which is well shaped with height ranges from 10 to 15 metres.Other species can have upto 25 metres in height.
This species usually favour swampy areas where usually mosquitoes breed.
Barks are smooth slightly flaking,greenish-yellow to yellow.The collectors described these barks as evil,pallid ,leprous ,stickly and sinister.Stipules spinescent ,the spines white ,straight upto 7 cm in length.This stipules ,spines is the name derivation of the Shona people "CHINANGA OR CHITATAUNGA" because when pass through these bushes you will obviously hooked and bitten severely.
Leaves are with 4 to 7 pairs of yellow balls and are usually fully developed in September to November .
Fruits are small pods which are up to 13x1,4 cm,pale brown,straight ,thin and rather papery with seeds oftenly break starting in January.
The wood is hard ,heavy and is used by local people in building purposes and as fuelwood.
The tree produce a smell when it is still fresh ,the flowers are best used by bees to make honey whilst the stipules small branches used some time back as reliable fence known as 'ruzhowa',and others are still using it as fencing their homes or gardens to protect animals from disturbing their orchards and other crops.
The is found in many places of Zimbabwe , densely scattered south east of Zimbabwe and is found as thick woodlands in Mozambique areas.