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A guide to the trees we teach.

Common, local and scientific names, with the ways these trees have traditionally been used. A starting list, to be expanded with the Academy.

Local names and spellings to be confirmed with AIA. Traditional uses are shared for learning, not as medical advice.

Marula
Photo: Trevor Bake / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Marula

Sclerocarya birrea

Local names

Xitsonga: nkanyi · Sepedi: morula · isiZulu: umganu

Traditional uses

Fruit eaten fresh or brewed into a traditional drink; the nuts are eaten; bark is used in traditional medicine.

Baobab
Photo: JMK / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Baobab

Adansonia digitata

Local names

Tshivenda: muvhuyu · Xitsonga: shimuwu

Traditional uses

Fruit pulp is rich in vitamin C; young leaves are cooked as a vegetable; bark fibre is made into rope.

Wild olive
Photo: Abu Shawka / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Wild olive

Olea europaea subsp. africana

Local names

isiZulu: umnquma · Sepedi: mohlware

Traditional uses

Hard, durable wood; leaves are used in traditional remedies; small fruit is eaten by birds.

Fever tree
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Fever tree

Vachellia xanthophloea

Local names

isiZulu: umkhanyakude

Traditional uses

Named because it grows near swampy ground once linked to malaria; bark is used in traditional fever remedies.

Photo to come

Sausage tree

Kigelia africana

Local names

Xitsonga: mpfungurhu · isiZulu: umvongotsha

Traditional uses

Large fruit used in traditional skin remedies; its flowers feed bats, birds and antelope.

Photo to come

Leadwood

Combretum imberbe

Local names

Xitsonga: mondzo · Sepedi: motswiri

Traditional uses

One of the hardest, slowest-burning woods; ash has been used as a toothpaste and whitewash.