Erythrina acanthocarpa

The tambuki thorn or Erythrina acanthocarpa flowers in spring before the leaves appear. Unlike other suffrutices of the Erythrina genus, this one retains some above ground woody parts, although the leaves are deciduous in winter.

Suffrutex trees, a feature strongly associated to African grassland, may become a thousand to in some cases several thousand years old. They grow slowly and are shielded from the fires that sweep across the dry winter grasslands of Africa. Protected from the winter winds, drought, firewood collectors and even insects that might eat them... a real example to the insurance companies, or a headache to farmers with ploughs (Coates Palgrave, 2002; www.fse.org.za).