Tree Tuesday: Vachellia xanthophloea/Fever tree - Koorsboom (in Afrikaans)

This very attractive Fever tree has a beautiful lime green and smooth bark. The bark flakes and has a yellow powder (sulphurous)on it. The young trees have long, straight white thorns but the older ones hardly have any. This tree is semi-deciduous to deciduous and native to Africa.

Here you can see the beautiful markings on the green-yellow bark:

Xanthophloea, comes from the Greek words “Xanthos” meaning yellow and “Phloios” meaning bark. It was called the “Fever Tree” by the pioneers which used to get a very bad fever (Malaria) when in the swampy areas where this tree grew and believed it was due to this tree.

The Fever tree grows up to 24m tall and is fast growing (1.2m per year). From August to November this tree produces bright yellow flowers. After flowering, they have green pods which turn brown when maturing with small brown seeds on the inside which split open from January to March. Photosynthesis takes place in this tree’s bark. They get planted next to dams and rivers on farms to control soil erosion.

The bark flakes where new red-brown branches grow:

The wood gets used for fencing, firewood and for boxwood and the bark mixed in a brew with other herbs are used as a medicine for treating fevers, Malaria and eye infections. It is also used as a divination tool (used in a ritual to help leaders get insight to the problem at hand).

The Senegalbushbaby loves eating this gum:

I took the photo from the net so you can see the flowers:

Image Credit

All photos were taken with a Samsung Galaxy S7 except for the flowers.

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