Butterspoon tree | |
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Its distinctive spoon-shaped stipules give the tree its common name | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Oxalidales |
Family: | Cunoniaceae |
Genus: | Cunonia |
Species: | C. capensis |
Binomial name | |
Cunonia capensis | |
Cunonia capensis, the butterspoon tree, butterknife tree, African red alder, red alder or rooiels, is a small tree found in the afromontane forests of southern Africa, and along rivers. It is grown as an ornamental in gardens for its attractive glossy foliage and its clusters of tiny, scented, white flowers. It is the only one of 24 species of Cunonia to occur outside of New Caledonia in the Pacific.
Cunonia capensis is a beautiful specimen tree, especially for southern African gardens. Its foliage is glossy, with tints of red, and it produces sprays of dense, fragrant, cream-coloured flowers from February to May (late austral summer to autumn). The flowers are bisexual and attract butterflies and honey bees. The fine seeds appear in tiny two-horned capsules, and are dispersed by birds and by wind.
The large stipules which enclose the growth tip are pressed together in a spoon-like structure, giving the tree one of its common names, the butterspoon tree.
This evergreen garden tree does not grow well in arid conditions, as it prefers a slightly more temperate climate, and requires a great deal of water in its first few years. It tolerates some frost and it is very fast-growing - provided it has sufficient water. In the open sun it typically reaches about 5 meters, but in forests it can reach a height of up to 10 meters.
Cunonia capensis naturally ranges from Cape Town and the Western Cape of South Africa, eastwards all the way to Swaziland and southern Mozambique. It typically grows in the indigenous Afromontane forests of southern Africa, and especially beside rivers. In its natural range it greatly favours moist spots or areas with high rainfall.
The genus Cunonia has a disjunct natural distribution, with 24 species occurring only on the island of New Caledonia in the Pacific, and a single species (Cunonia capensis) in southern Africa.
Cunonia capensis is increasingly cultivated across southern Africa as an ornamental specimen tree. It is cultivated for its glossy foliage which is tinted with red, and its sprays of cream flowers. It grows well full sun and as well as shade, and it can be planted near buildings because it has a gentle, non-invasive root-system. This has recently made it popular in built-up areas. It requires a moist environment though, as trees planted in arid areas would require frequent watering, especially while still small. This has however also made it a very suitable tree for marshy, water-logged gardens, or the banks of rivers. The tree is usually cultivated from its tiny seeds, and the young plants need ample water and some shelter from direct sunlight. It is one of the fastest growing trees in southern Africa. [1]
Curtisia dentata is a flowering tree from Southern Africa. It is the sole species in genus Curtisia, which was originally classed as a type of "dogwood" (Cornaceae), but is now placed in its own unique family Curtisiaceae.
Alnus glutinosa, the common alder, black alder, European alder, European black alder, or just alder, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to most of Europe, southwest Asia and northern Africa. It thrives in wet locations where its association with the bacterium Frankia alni enables it to grow in poor quality soils. It is a medium-sized, short-lived tree growing to a height of up to 30 metres (100 ft). It has short-stalked rounded leaves and separate male and female flowers in the form of catkins. The small, rounded fruits are cone-like and the seeds are dispersed by wind and water.
Araucaria heterophylla is a vascular plant in the ancient and now disjointly distributed conifer family Araucariaceae. As its vernacular name Norfolk Island pine implies, the tree is endemic to Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, but is also cultivated elsewhere as an ornamental. The genus Araucaria occurs across the South Pacific, especially concentrated in New Caledonia where 13 closely related and similar-appearing species are found. It is sometimes called a star pine, Polynesian pine, triangle tree or living Christmas tree, due to its symmetrical shape as a sapling, although it is not a true pine.
Alnus rubra, the red alder, is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to western North America.
Ficus microcarpa, also known as Chinese banyan, Malayan banyan, Indian laurel, curtain fig, or gajumaru (ガジュマル), is a tree in the fig family Moraceae. It is native in a range from China through tropical Asia and the Caroline Islands to Australia. It is widely planted as a shade tree and frequently misidentified as F. retusa or as F. nitida.
The Knysna–Amatole montane forests ecoregion, of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome, is in South Africa. It covers an Afromontane area of 3,100 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi) in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape provinces.
Olea capensis, also known by the common name black ironwood, is an African tree species belonging to the Olive family (Oleaceae). It is widespread in Sub-Saharan Africa from the east in Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, south to the tip of South Africa, and west to Cameroon, Sierra Leone and the Islands of the Gulf of Guinea, as well as Madagascar and the Comoros. It occurs in bush, littoral scrub and evergreen forest.
Alsophila capensis, synonym Cyathea capensis, is a regionally widespread and highly variable species of tree fern. It is indigenous to Southern Africa and South America.
Podocarpus henkelii is a South African species of conifer in the family Podocarpaceae. It is grown ornamentally in gardens for its strikingly neat, attractive form and its elegant, drooping foliage.
Frangula alnus, commonly known as alder buckthorn, glossy buckthorn, or breaking buckthorn, is a tall deciduous shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. Unlike other "buckthorns", alder buckthorn does not have thorns. It is native to Europe, northernmost Africa, and western Asia, from Ireland and Great Britain north to the 68th parallel in Scandinavia, east to central Siberia and Xinjiang in western China, and south to northern Morocco, Turkey, and the Alborz in Iran and Caucasus Mountains; in the northwest of its range, it is rare and scattered. It is also introduced and naturalised in eastern North America.
Cunonia is a genus of shrubs and trees in the family Cunoniaceae. The genus has a disjunct distribution, with 24 species endemic to New Caledonia in the Pacific, and one species in Southern Africa. Leaves are opposite, simple or pinnate with a margin entire to serrate. Interpetiolar stipules are often conspicuous and generally enclose buds to form a spoon-like shape. Flowers are bisexual, white, red, or green, arranged in racemes. The fruit is a capsule opening first around the base then vertically, seeds are winged.
Diospyros whyteana is a small African tree of the ebony family. Bearing dark green, strikingly glossy leaves and creamy fragrant flowers, it is increasingly cultivated in Southern African gardens as an attractive and strong ornamental tree. It can attain a height of up to 6 m.
Kiggelaria africana is a large, robust, low-branching African tree, and is currently the only accepted species in the genus Kiggelaria.
Halleria lucida is a small, attractive, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Southern Africa. It is increasingly grown as an ornamental tree in African gardens.
Rapanea melanophloeos, commonly known as Cape beech, Kaapse boekenhout or isiCalabi, is a dense, graceful, evergreen tree that is native to the afromontane forests of Southern Africa. Outside forests they are also commonly encountered along stream banks and in gullies.
Cassine peragua, also known as Cape saffron, bastard saffron and forest spoonwood, is a medium-sized tree with fragrant flowers, decorative fruits and a saffron-coloured trunk. It is indigenous to the Afro-montane forests of South Africa.
Olinia ventosa, commonly known as the hard-pear. is a large, evergreen forest tree indigenous to South Africa.
Maytenus oleoides, commonly known as the mountain maytenus or rock false candlewood, is a dense, medium-sized tree that grows throughout the western half of South Africa. It is known as klipkershout in Afrikaans.
Southern Afrotemperate Forest is a kind of tall, shady, multilayered indigenous South African forest. This is the main forest-type in the south-western part of South Africa, naturally extending from the Cape Peninsula in the west, as far as Port Elizabeth in the east. In this range, it usually occurs in small forest pockets, surrounded by fynbos vegetation.
Protorhus longifolia, the red beech, is a medium to large, mostly dioecious species of tree in the family Anacardiaceae. It is native to South Africa and Eswatini, where it occurs in well-watered situations from coastal elevations to 1,250 m. The leafy, evergreen trees have rounded crowns and usually grow between 6 and 10 m tall, but regularly taller in forest.
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