Botanical name |
Cussonia paniculata (SA No 563) |
Other names |
Cabbage tree, parasol tree, bergkiepersol (Afrikaans) |
Family |
Araliaceae |
Dimensions |
Small, attractive tree, usually 3 to 4 m |
Description of stem |
Dark brown to blackish grey; fissured, often many-branched and with a thick trunk, sometimes an imposing appearance |
Description of leaves |
About 9 blue-grey leaflets radiating digitately in fanlike fashion from the end of the straight petiole of more than 20 cm; in colder areas may be semi-deciduous; the margin is variably lobed in a semi-symmetric manner |
Description of flowers |
Panicles of small green flower spikes, appearing in mid-summer |
Description of seed/fruit |
Small fleshy, yellow-green berries turning purple, densely stacked on the spike stalks |
Description of roots |
Comparatively large root system, appearing swollen |
Variation |
Leaf, stem and growth form variations across the large distribution area |
Propagation and cultivation |
Grown from seed; transplantation easily when small; bigger trees require care with the huge root system that tends to rot upon transplanting when much injury occurred in digging it out; drainage is important |
Tolerances |
Deciduous in colder winter conditions |
Uses |
Common and very popular garden tree; the wood is said to have been used for brake-blocks on waggons; browsed by livestock |
Ecological rarity |
common |
Pests and diseases |
|
Other |
|
Location |
Hills and rocky slopes in summer rainfall areas |
Distribution |
Eastern Cape; Free State; Kwazulu-Natal; Gauteng; Mpumalanga; North West; Limpopo |
Country |
South Africa; Botswana; Lesotho |