Trees in my Garden 4

16. Nandi Flame (Spathodea). A truly local tree, named after Kenya’s Nandi Hills, and celebrated in ‘The Flame Trees of Thika’. Its greatest feature is its bright orange-red clusters of flowers, with petals edged with yellow, creating its spectacular flame effect. The bark is also good for curing liver complaints, and when boiled makes a great treatment for nappy rash! And hummingbirds love them. A flaming great tree!

17. African Wild Date Palm (Phoenix reclinata). A handsome maverick of a tree, 5 metres high with a regal crown of fronds. Even though this tree’s main purpose is to look impressive, you can, if you are hungry enough, eat its oval shaped fruit once they ripen from green to brown. Or you can try climbing up its old leaf scarred trunk, and sit opulently among its dioecious (either male or female) flowers!

18. Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina). When you need some shade, try sitting under this tree. It’s a big evergreen, with drooping foliage that keeps you cool all day long. Apparently it’s the official tree of Bangkok – well the sun’s pretty hot there, so they need all the natural air-conditioning they can get.

19. African Pencil Cedar (Juniperus procera). An evergreen highland forest tree. It has prickly leaves, and grows small yellow male cones and purple-blue female cones, which look a bit like berries. The timber is great for house-building, making poles, posts, furniture, pencils and as beehives. It’s also great for fuel. If you grind up the young twigs and buds and then soak them in water you will have a great cure for intestinal worms! Yum yum.

20. Indian Rubber Plant (Ficus elastica). Another tree familiar to British indoor plant aficionados. But this one is about 20m tall. It’s actually part of the banyan family of fig trees, and it lives in a co-evolved relationship with the fig wasp, that it relies on for pollination. In some parts of India these trees are used to form ‘living bridges’ by growing them over chasms, some of them over 500 years old! The ‘rubber’ name comes from the latex in the tree – at one time these trees were used to make rubber, but they are not the main commercial source of rubber – that is the pará rubber tree. In fact the latex can be fatal if swallowed – try eating liquid rubber and you will discover why.

Trees in my Garden 2

6. Mexican Ash (Fraxinus Pennsylvanica) . Yes, another Mexican one. Well muchachos, this is a big one with dark cracked bark. It’s not an exciting tree – good for general timber, posts and fuel. But you can depend on it to break (the) wind.

7. Trichilia (Trichilia Spp). Ever heard of this? AKA Cape Mahogany. Sound more familiar? These babies get big, although my one is quite young. They are great for all sorts of things. You can make soap out of the oil from the seeds. The timber is good for light indoor furniture, as well as poles posts and fuel. If you are a human its seeds could poison you, however if you are a baboon or other monkey you will love them! Plus, the oil treats cuts and bruises, the roots and bark are good for fevers, the leaves and fruit help ease bruises, cuts and eczema, and the seed oil relieves rheumatism. Also, the bark, roots and leaves are traditionally used for intestinal problems, plus dysentery, kidney problems, and parasite infestation. This is a useful tree! And it’s local!!

8. Jacaranda (Jacaranda Mimosifolia). Got a couple of these. At the right time of year its mauve-blue bell-shaped flowers come out in spectacular style – I’ll post when it happens. From Brazil originally but they are all over Africa these days. I’ve been to at least two African cities that call themselves the ‘purple city’ because of these trees, and I bet there are lots more.

9. Bastard Myrobalan (Terminalia Bellirica). Not a very nice name, but quite a nice tree, full of mysticism. It’s used to line avenues all over South East Asia because of its size and grandeur. Apparently its oil also has potential as a source of bio-diesel. Some tribes in India get high by smoking the kernels, and other bits of it are good as a laxative or for sore throats. Hindus also claim that the nuts of this true were used as dice in the Mahabharata, but they won’t sit under the tree as they believe it is full of demons!

10. Peacock Flower (Albizia Gummifera). A local tree, known as Mcani Mbao in Swahili. The bark can ease malaria, the pods cure stomach-ache, the roots are crushed for skin disease, the powdered bark makes a snuff for headaches, and the bark can also be made into an infusion for inflamation of the eyes. And the flowers – yes, they look like peacock feathers!  When the season’s right, I’ll show you.

Trees in my Garden 1

1. Pigeon Wood (Triema Orientalis). Indigenous. Good for coughs, pneumonia, bronchitis, and as an antidote for poisoning. Pretty good for attracting pigeons, doves and butterflies. Wood good for poles and fuel. Leaves make handy mulch and fodder as well as brown dye. Bark makes black dye. Looks OK, functional, but unspectacular.

2. Mexican Cypress (Cupressus Lusitanica). Exotic, native to Mexico and Guatemala. High altitude evergreen conifer tree. Good for furniture, construction wood, fuel, poles, posts and pulp-wood. Not bad as a hedge or shade tree. Just doesn’t belong in Kenya…

Here are its seed cones.

3. Rose Apple (Eugenia Jambos). Exotic, native to India and Malaysia. Quite a small ornamental tree, with funny little fruit that turn yellow when ripe and with pinky green dense leaves.

The mini-apple fruit smells like a rose, hence the name, and you can make jelly and jam out of it! Wine?

4. Mango (Mangifera Indica). Well, everyone knows what a mango is. But did you know the flowers have pyramidal heads and are pollinated by flies and other insects? The ripe fruit come in various shapes and colours too, from round and yellow to oval and orangey pink. And if you ever get bored of the fruit you can make a canoe out of the wood. The wonderful world of the mango.

5: Bottle Brush. From down-under. It’s main feature is its bright red flowers, shaped like, yes … bottle brushes! The sunbirds and the bees love them. Why wouldn’t you? When the seasons right, I’ll put in a picture of it in flower, but for now here’s how it looks.