umKhanyakude: The Light From Afar

Acacia xanthophloea (botanical, Latin name), or umKhanyakude (isiZulu), also known by its common name, the Fever Tree, has its natural habitat in northern KZN, the Gauteng Lowveld, and the Kruger National Park.
A medium to tall, deciduous tree of 10 to 15 m in height (although sometimes reaching 25m), it is usually found growing in groups in hot, low lying, swampy areas alongside rivers and pans. Stands of fever trees found in nDumo Game Reserve, northern KZN, form closed woodlands, creating a magnificent sight near pans and fringing riverine networks. Several specimens are to be seen in the Durban Botanic Gardens, one of which is of a great age and sadly, is showing that it’s near the end of its life.

This striking species is a popular choice in gardens and as a street tree and can be found as far afield as Cape Town and although sensitive to frost, it survives in parts of Johannesburg and Pretoria.

The habitat of various bird species, the fever tree is is the favourite of the village weavers that will often colonise and entire specimen. Ideally suited for their suspended nest, the thorny branches of this species
prove to be a deterrent for snakes and monkeys that fancy the eggs and fledglings as a food source.

Given its characteristic smooth, powdery, greenish-yellow bark that bears a powdery substance on its surface, and its preferred location, this tree has a story to tell.

In the early days of travelers and plant hunters, this tree was known as being the harbinger of fevers and a life-threatening malaise. Explorers would camp out in the shade of them as they were usually close to a water source, the fever tree’s preferred habitat. The legend arose that the tree with its powdery yellow green bark caused fevers and a potentially fatal condition among the folk who slept beneath it. The disease was, of course, malaria caused by the mosquito, however this connection was not known at the time, hence the name, fever tree.

The beautiful, lyrical, isiZulu name for the fever tree is umKhanyakude which translated means ‘light from afar’. The tree is indeed visible from a distance, standing like a beacon in an arboreal landscape during both day, and night, when a stand of fever trees catching moonlight takes on a magical, mysterious aura.

It’s a great tree. Go plant one!