English: Cape chestnut; Wild chestnut.
Name: kalos means beautiful, and dendron is Greek for tree; capense is Latin for from the Cape.
Afrikaans: Wildekastaiing; Kaapsekastaiing.
Xhosa: Umbaba; Umsitshana; Umbhaba.
Zulu: Umemezi omhlophe.
Sotho: Molalakgwedi; Mookêlêla.
Venda: Muvhaha.
Region: south and east coast of southern Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Ethiopia.
Habitat: forests, ravines, gorges, occasionally in scrub and riverine bush, from sea-level to 2000 m; in mist belt forest; prefers deep fertile, well-composted soil, plenty of moisture, particularly during spring and summer, warm sunny position; intolerant of strong, sustained winds, frost.
Ecology: larvae of several butterflis, Papilio demodocus, breed on the foliage. Samango and vervet monkeys, rameron and olive pigeons, cinnamon doves and Cape parrots eat the seeds.
Culture: Xhosa believe that the seeds have magic properties, and hunters used to tie them around their wrists when hunting to bring them skill and good luck.
Use: ornamental, for shade; hard timber is generally useful for tent bows, wagon-making, yokes, planking, shovel handles, and furniture, and is considered one of the most generally useful hard woods; bark for skin ointments; seeds, crushed and boiled, give oil for soap.
BotanyBeautiful tree; evergreen at the coast, deciduous inland; up to 20 m, 7 m at the forest margin or in the open; dense, rounded, spreading canopy.
Stem: single trunk; smooth; attractive mottled streaky grey, buttressed and lichen-covered in older specimens; wood is white or light yellow, fairly hard, bends well, easily worked.
Leaves: dark green; large, 5 to 22 cm long, 2 too 10 cm wide; simple, untoothed undulate margins; elliptic.
Inflorescence: conspicuous terminal panicles.
Flowers: pale pink; large, striking; faintly sweet-scented; blooming early summer; petals 5, long, narrow, 4 to 5 cm, by 0.5 cm; staminodes 5, petal-like, pale pink, conspicuously dotted with purplish to maroon glands alternating with the petals; calyx is star-shaped and persists after the flower has dropped off; ovary, on a long gynophore, swells to form the fruit.
Pollination: by butterflies.
Fruit: green, maturing to brown; 5-lobed, woody capsule; rough warty surface, splitting during late summer to autumn.
Seeds: large, smooth, black, hard, surprisingly light in weight.
LiteraturePalmer, E. & Pitman, N.; Trees of Southern Africa; A.A. Balkema, Cape Town; 1972.
Coates Palgrave, Keith; Trees of Southern Africa, First Edition; C. Struik Publishers, Cape Town, Johannesburg; 1977.
Venter, Fanie & Julye-Ann; The Cape Chestnut; Farmers Weekly June 10, 1984.
Leistner, O.A.; Seed plants of southern Africa: families and genera; Strelitzia 10., National Botanical Institute, Pretoria; 2000.
Sanbi; http://pza.sanbi.org/calodendrum-capense.