A well-branched, semi-deciduous tree growing up to 18 m high, with a rounded or sometimes flat crown, drooping foliage, and an often crooked, cylindrical bole.

Bark: pale grey and smooth when young, dark brown and rough later.

Leaves: with four to seven pairs of opposite leaflets; oblong, dark green and leathery.

Flowers: white to pale yellow, fragrant, arranged in large branched heads or panicles giving the tree in flower an appearance of brown speckled with white.

Fruits: dark brown, flat, velvety pods, square­ended, borne above the leaves and splitting explosively to release two to six smooth brown seeds.

Flowering: from January to May with casual flowering in November.

Habitat:

Found between 1000 and 1400m in dry, evergreen forest and in most woodland types on plateau and escarpment soils and is locally frequent in woodland on Kalahari sands, often dominant in miombo forests. Its rainfall range is from 700 to 1000 mm per year.

Distribution

Occurring in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is the most common and most widespread tree in Zimbabwe.

Uses