Wildlife of Botswana - Flora - Trees

Trees

Common trees are the mopane, baobab, marula, acacia, camel thorn, motopi (shepherd’s tree), wild date palm, papyrus, sycamore fig tree, real fan palm, African mangosteen and the sausage tree. The trees tend to grow in areas with a plentiful supply of water, such as in the Okavango Delta swamps.

The baobab tree, known as mowana in the Setswana language are some of the long living trees in Botwana and may grow older than 2000 years. The bark is characteristically pinkish-grey in colour, with a shiny tint. Large white flowers, averaging about 12 cm across and appear between October and December, whilst the greyish-brown fruits which average about 24 cm in length appear in April–May.

The marula or morula tree, belonging to the mango family Anacardiaceae, grows to an average of 15 metres (and up to 20 metres) in the Okavango Delta in bushveld and woodland, and has a greyish bark and is deciduous. From January to July, the leaves are grey-green but eventually turn pale yellow and fall off in the latter part of the year during the winter. During the summer months the trees exhibit round to oval fruit, rich in Vitamin C, with a thick peel covering white slippery pulp, which like the leaves turns increasingly yellow at the end of the blooming season. It also bears flowers, pinkish with male and red-purple and white with female.; the male tends to be larger and borne on sparse drooping racemes.

Wild date palm is one of only two species of palm tree which occur in the Okavango Delta, the other being the real fan palm. The palm, an evergreen, tends to reach a height of around 6 metres (20 ft) and grows in abundance in the swamps in Botswana, along with the papyrus. It exhibits feather-shaped leaves, as compared to the fan-shaped leaves of the real fan palm. The leaves typically grow to about 3–4 metres (9.8–13 ft) in length with some spiny basal leaflets and others which are dark green and glossy in appearance. Male florets of the tree are pale dirty-yellow and caduceus and female florets are smaller, globose and have a greener yellow colouring.

The sycamore fig tree is one of the largest trees growing in Botswana, typically found in the Okavango delta growing up to 20 metres. A semi-deciduous tree, it has a deeply fluted stem with bright orange bark and grows figs up to 3 cm in diameter which eventually turn pale red to red when mature from green and peak between July and December.

The deciduous water-thriving African mangosteen in Botswana can grow up to 18 metres (59 ft) in height, identifiable by its bare, evenly sectioned yellowish-grey stem which stands out against its dense, very dark crown. The bark is grey in colour and the tree sports dark green, shiny leathery leaves averaging 9 centimetres (3.5 in) by 3 centimetres (1.2 in), with a yellow veining are diagnostic. The fruit which the tree bears is oval and of a pinky-orange colour, about 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) in diameter on average and appears from November to February.

The mmilo tree, the species Vangueria infausta of the Rubiaceae family grows is a small deciduous shrub occurring in wooded grassland and bushveld, particular in rocky areas. It exhibits a yellowish-brown drupe, subglobose edible fruit, up to 35 millimetres (1.4 in) in diameter of which the seed is often obtained to create a dish called nchwachwa during the dry winter season.

The species Kigelia africana of sausage tree grows in the Okavango Delta, especially in the Xakanaxa, Third Bridge and Mboma Island areas, and can reach heights of up to 20 metres (66 ft), making it amongst the tallest trees in Botswana. It is noted for its fruits which resemble oversized sausages and can weigh up to 4–5 kg and up to 50 centimetres (20 in) long and 15 centimetres (5.9 in) in diameter. The bark is grey and smooth in younger trees and may exhibit leaves up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and dark red to maroon cup-shaped flowers measuring 15 by 15 cm, which bloom in August to October.