Wart Hog mourns the demise of the Head of State as we all put him to rest this week. May His Soul Rest in Peace.
It took Wart Hog a good trip to Luangwa district at the weekend and lucky Wart Hog met an elderly woman called Tionenji Mvula (not her real name) in her late 90s. Mama Tionenji shared a lot about Luangwa.
She explained that Luangwa was first called Feira which she said was probably the first European settlement in Zambia.
The Portuguese first settled on the opposite bank of the Luangwa at Zumbo in Mozambique around 1720 in order to trade with the Bwila people, and by 1820 some had settled in Feira.
The town was abandoned again by 1856 and was later described by the explorer David Livingstone as completely ruined. In 1887, John Harrison Clark went to settle in Feira and lived there until 1895.
It is at this stage that Wart Hog asked our dearly lady if she knows anything about Mukula tree and amusingly she laughed and said: ‘yes my son, I do know this specie.I had been teaching about trees when I was still energetic’.
Scientists call it Pterocarpus angolensis or common names: kiaat, bloodwood, paddle-wood, sealing-wax tree, wild teak, Transvaal teak (English); morôtô (North Sotho); mokwa, morotômadi (Tswana);
A brown and papery, spiky, fried egg is what the seed pod of this beautiful tree looks like. The pods remain on the tree long after the leaves have fallen and make it easy to identify. “So you Wart Hog will call it Mukula, while I will call it kiaat. This is a deciduous, spreading and slightly flat-crowned tree with a high canopy. It reaches about 15 metres in height and has dark bark.
The shiny leaves are compound (divided into leaflets) and characteristically hang downwards. An abundance of scented, orange-yellow flowers appear in spring. These are carried in sprays. The flowering time is rather short, two to three weeks only.”
The kiaat grows in the warm, frost free areas in the Northeast of the country, extending into Zimbabwe, Northern Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia and northwards into other parts of Africa.
It grows in bushveld and woodland where the rainfall is above 500 mm per year and it favours rocky slopes or well-drained, deep, sandy soil.
This tree is part of the pea or bean family (Fabaceae). The genus Pterocarpus has been placed in a further division of this family (called a subfamily). The subfamily Papilionoideae has characteristic pea-like flowers.
The genus has been given a name which describes the unusual seed pods, ptero meaning “wing” in Greek and carpus which means “fruit” in Greek. The central, hardened seed case is surrounded by a broad, membranous wing and is, therefore, called “wing fruit” or Pterocarpus. The first “P” in Pterocarpus is silent and the name is pronounced tero-car-pus.
There are roughly 30 species in the genus and these may be found in the more tropical regions of the world. Four species are found in Southern Africa. The specific name, Angolensis means “of Angola”.
The brilliant dramatically red sap found in Pterocarpus gives it the common name of “bloodwood”. The wood apparently bears some resemblance to the unrelated true teak from tropical East Asia (Tectonagrandis) hence the common name “wild teak”.
The kiaat is a larval food plant for the bushveld charaxes butterfly (Charaxes achaemenes achaemenes) and squirrels, baboons and monkeys feed on the seed pods in spite of the sharp bristles on the seed case.
Game animals browse the leaves and elephants have been known to push the tree over. The wavy, membranous wing allows the pods to float to the ground away from the tree.
Kiaat grows in Southern and Eastern Africa over a wide range of localities where there is a dry season contrasting with a wet season. It grows best where it is warm and free of frost. The soil type must be deep sandy soil or well drained rocky slopes where the rainfall is above 500 mm per year.
It grows well in areas of open woodland such as the Mashonaland plateau, where it assumes a broad crown with heavy branches, and is a pioneer species on woodland and forest margins. The best specimens grow in the seasonal closed woodland of central Mozambique and parts of Malawi, where they sometimes form pure stands.
The kiaat is fed upon by many animals that include the charaxes butterfly in larval state, squirrels, baboons and monkeys that feed on the seed pods, which have a diameter of about 12 centimeters. The elephant has been known to destroy the kiaat by pushing it over.
Now my dear Wart Hog this graceful tree has very many uses and is much valued throughout Africa. The beautiful timber is easy to work and is used for furniture, implements and curios.
The reddish brown heartwood is resistant to borer and termite and also polishes well. The sapwood is pale yellowish and furniture and curios often have the sapwood included in the article.
Kiaat is also used to make canoes because the wood does not shrink and swell much. Historically there was trade in this timber in the old Transvaal. This was on a minor scale and fitted in with the seasonal cattle drives from the lowveld winter grazing back to the highveld in summer.
The red sap is used traditionally as a dye and in some areas mixed with animal fat to make a cosmetic for faces and bodies.
It is also believed to have magical properties for the curing of problems concerning blood, apparently because of its close resemblance to blood. There are many medicinal uses recorded for kiaat, including treatment for ringworm, stabbing pains, eye problems, malaria, blackwater fever, stomach problems and to increase the supply of breast milk.
The tree is sometimes planted around the chief’s enclosure to make a living fence. Baskets are also woven from the inner bark.
There are several uses for the wood of the kiaat. The brown heartwood is resistant to borer and termite, is durable and has a pleasing spicy fragrance. The wood polishes well and is well known in tropical Africa as Mukwa when used to make good quality furniture that has an attractive light brownish-yellow colour.
It can also be used for curios, and implements. Since the wood does not swell or shrink much it is great for canoe building. Furniture and curios are often made from the reddish sapwood. The colour of the sapwood is a result of the remarkable, dark red sap of the plant; an alternative name of Bloodwood rises from this. This wood also produces a rich, resonant sound and can be made into many different musical instruments.
The kiaat makes a stately garden subject for warm frost free areas in Africa. It casts a light shade and therefore will not shade out lawn beneath it. It is not common in cultivation because of difficulty with seed germination.
Seed needs to be removed from the hard seed case and then treated by filing the seed coat to allow the seed to absorb water for germination to occur. Apparently even with treatment, germination is erratic. It reportedly will also grow from truncheons taken in October when the sap is rising. It prefers a well-drained situation so will not enjoy shallow or heavy soils, which will affect the appearance of the tree.
It was indeed a good encounter I had with Mama Titayenji Mvula, an encounter that increased my knowledge on trees. I should be quick to mention however that the information from our old lady gives details of the PterocarcapousAngolensis known in Chichewa as Mlombwa, Chibemba as Mukwa, while the Lundas call it Mukula.
PterocarpousChrysothrix (Mukula in Chibemba) is closely related to this specie. Both PterocarcapousAngolensis and PterocarpousChrysothrix belong to the Leguminosae family which is a pod-bearing family, hence very difficult to differentiate. There is limited information about the PterocarpousChrysothrix. Therefore Wart Hog would be very grateful to anyone with more information on PterocarpousChrysothrixor what is well known as Mukula.