Patrick

It really is an easy tree to propagate and is very rewarding in your garden.  It has beautiful, bright red flowers each spring (which attract the sunbirds) and loses all its leaves in winter, which I particularly like.

Baby Coral Trees

However, earlier this year, I noticed a black moss growing on the trunk and branches of the tree and thought I better do something about it.  First I Googled black moss but didn’t come up with anything useful.  Then I went to take a closer look at the tree and noticed hundreds of small, black ants moving up and down the tree trunk.  Could the ‘black moss’ actually be the ants footprints, I wondered?

After a bit more Googling, I found something that surprised me.  Both the ants and black moss were indicator species, pointing to the real culprit, aphids.  I went back to inspect the tree for a third time and lo and behold, there in the leaves, were hundreds of tiny aphids.

So, in pulling all the pieces of the puzzle together, I worked out that the ants were protecting and ‘milking’ the aphids for their carbohydrate rich excrement, called honeydew.  This was also coating the trunk and branches of the tree, providing a perfect environment for the black moss to grow.

Solution, kill the ants and let the aphids natural predators control the population.

Result, the fever tree has suddenly sprung to life.

New leaves sprouting on the fever tree.

A few Google searches revealed that what we erroneously call ‘Syringa’ is in fact Melia azedarach, the ‘Chinaberry’ Tree, which is part of the mahogany family and native to India, southern China and Australia. While some of the facts about the tree sounded familiar; the use of its leaves for medicinal purposes (also in Indian and Zulu communities in KZN) and the fact that its berries are toxic to humans but not to birds (which facilitates the spreading of the plant), I was surprised to find that it is commonly used as timber.

Melia azedarach has a timber of high quality, but is generally underutilised. Apparently, the seasoning of the wood is also relatively simple as it dries without cracking or warping and is resistant to fungal infection. I quickly did the Math. Durban is overrun by these alien and invasive trees that grow to around 12m, which equals a lot of crack-free, water and fungus resistant timber, that could be used as building materials or to make furniture etc. as in the case of Koop.

Surely this could be done at a municipal level too? The eradication of invasive alien trees, the planting of new, indigenous ones, and in the process, skill-sharing, creating awareness about alien plants, and producing resistant and sturdy timber that could be used for building or to create furniture for schools… Seems like a good idea to me. Are there facts that are missing? Is Syringa / Chinaberry as worthwhile as the Internet suggests? What do you think?

Syringa berries

Common Names: Chinaberry, Pride-of-India, Persian Lilac, White Cedar or Bead Tree
Synonymy: M. australis Sweet; M. japonica G. Don; M. sempervirens Sw.
Origin: Asia

Syringa flowers

Anybody recognise it?

What tree is this?

Update

Berries and leaves.

Normally I would just appreciate it for its beauty but I had recently been reading Pitta Joffe’s Creative Gardening with Indigenous Plants and its function is pretty beautiful as well.  Fungi help to break down wood and mulch, releasing mineral nutrients back into the soil!

Fun guy

It has a thick, rough bark, thin leaves and long, pod-shaped seeds, but what I really like about it are its flowers.  They are light, candy-striped and kinda Japanese.  Also, the seeds are really easy to germinate and I am growing a bonsai version of it.

Does anyone know what it is called and where it is from?

What tree is this?