Combretum molle (Bekele-Tesemma, 2007)
| Combretum molle (Bekele-Tesemma, 2007) |
Combretum molle Combretaceae Indigenous
Common names
- English: Velvet-leaved combretum
- Amargna: Agalo, Avalo, Bagur
- Bertagna: Hashnur
- Gumuzgna: Begoha
- Oromugna: Bika, Dandamsa, Didegsa
- Sahogna: Begoha
- Tigrigna: Anfarfaro, Haziba, Weiba
Ecology
A tree widespread in the wooded grassland and bushland of East and southern Africa, also in Yemen, it has a number of varieties. The tree tolerates forest or grass fires well. Widespread in Combretum and Combretum-Terminalia woodlands and wooded grassland and bushlands in Dry and Moist Kolla and Weyna Dega agroclimatic zones in most regions of Ethiopia, often on stony hills, 500–2,200 m.
Uses
Firewood, charcoal, timber (construction), poles, posts, tool handles, medicine (roots, leaves, bark), bee forage, mulch.
Description
A small deciduous tree, to 15 m, the trunk often crooked and branching near the base.
- BARK: Distinctive, older trunks dark brown‑black, deeply grooved in squares like “crocodile skin”. Branchlets peeling in fibrous strips.
- LEAVES: Large, soft and hairy both sides, up to 21 x 12.5 cm, rounded at the base, tip pointed.
- FLOWERS: Greenish‑yellow spikes to 10 cm, sweet scented, attracting insects, produced before or with new leaves.
- FRUIT: 4‑winged, yellow‑green at first drying bright golden‑brown, up to 2 cm. Wings wider than the fruit. Fruit may hang on the tree until the next season.
Propagation
Seedlings (sow seed in pots)
Seed
Collect the winged fruit before they are too dry.
- Treatment: Open the winged fruit to get the seed before sowing or soak in cold water for 24 hours.
- Storage: Seeds cannot be stored for long. Use fresh seed. Once the seed is extracted it should be sown immediately. It is difficult to extract the seed from very dry fruits.
Management
Slow growing. Lopping and coppicing
Remarks
The species is very variable. The hard, yellow wood burns well giving intense heat. The wood is moderately termite resistant.
