Unknown trees

In the tree labelling exercise we have been carrying out at the Harare Botanic Garden and Ewanrigg Botanic Garden, we have come across trees which we are unable to identify. These unknown trees have been labelled with a unique U number.

On this page we have set out images with notes and descriptions of five of these trees and we request anyone who can identify them to get in touch with us.

We can be contacted via the contact form on this website or by sending an email to Mark Hyde at mahyde@gmail.com.

 U5

Rubiaceae.  Area: Dn      GPS: S17 48.084 E31 03.196    Harare Botanic Garden

Rubiaceae, possibly Coffea zanguebariae. Shrub 5.5 m tall. Leaves opposite. Fruits longitudinally ribbed.

 U8

Possibly Bignoniaceae.  Area: Ke      GPS: S17 47.942 E31 03.076     Harare Botanic Garden

Tree, 4 m. Bark smooth, grey. Leaves borne in clusters on small spurs, pendulous, mostly compound, very variable, ranging from a single leaflet, paripinnate with 2 or 4 pairs of leaflets, 3-foliolate, imparipinnate with two pairs of leaflets and a terminal. The petioles or rachis are bent, not straight, giving the leaves a somewhat weird look; leaves are not flat. Leaflets: petiolule 1- 1.5 cm; lamina 4-7 × 1 cm, narrowly lanceolate to linear, grey-green above, silvery-grey beneath with fine appressed hairs; (young leaves much greener); base attenuate; apex acute; margin entire.

 U9

White-flowered Pterocarpus-like tree.  Area: Kn      GPS: S17 47.897 E31 03.116  Harare Botanic Garden

Tree, 12 m, the branches touching the ground. Bark rough, vertically fissured, with flat pieces peeling off from below. Branchlets brown-tomentose, without lenticels. No stipules seen.

Leaves with a swollen basal pulvinus, alternate, arranged in a plane. imparipinnate with 9-14 alternately arranged leaflets. Petiole 2-3.5 cm; rhachis 9-14 cm. Leaflets: petiolule 4-5 mm, swollen, brown-pubescent; lamina 5-8 × 3-4 cm, oblong, shiny and nearly glabrous above, sparsely brown-hairy beneath; base rounded; apex bluntly acuminate, often notched; margin entire, slightly undulate. Main vein prominent beneath; laterals fainter, curving round and not reaching the margin. Single minute brown-hairy stipels occur at the base of each petiolule; 2 stipels at the base of the terminal leaflet. Flowers borne in racemes. Calyx densely dark brown-hairy with glandular hairs. Corolla white with a dark reddish-brown marking at the base of the standard.

Pod 10 cm in diameter, including the wing; circular with seed borne in a central raised area 2.5 cm across. Wing brown-hairy; central portion with longer and larger brown hairs. Fruit stalk 6 cm, borne in a narrow sinus extending almost to the central area.

 U10

Unknown legume.  Area: Kn      GPS: S17 47.906 E31 03.121  Harare Botanic Garden

There are two large trees, one smaller one and a lot of either suckers or seedlings. Tree, 15 m, branching upwards from about 4 m up the trunk. Bark grey, smooth with fine horizontal lines. Branchlets lenticellate. No stipules seen. Leaves with a swollen basal pulvinus, spirally arranged, imparipinnate with 4-6 pairs of opposite leaflets (some slightly subopposite) and a terminal leaflet. Petiole 8-10 cm; rhachis 20 cm. Leaflets: petiolule 4-6 mm, swollen; lamina 6-10 cm × 3-5 cm, ovate to elliptic, discolorous, the sides raised forming a V shape, glabrous and dark green above, paler green with very short hairs beneath. Veins very prominent beneath, sunken above, reaching all the way to the margin; base cuneate; apex bluntly acuminate; margin entire. No stipels seen. Inflorescence a terminal leafless panicle. Pods 10-12 cm × 3-4 cm, flat, tapering to both ends, densely brown-tomentose, furry to the touch. Seeds 1?, 2.5 × 1.5 cm, curved, shiny brown.

 U16

Unknown Pinus sp.  Area: ZZ      GPS: S17 48.133 E31 03.283    Harare Botanic Garden

Tree 9 m tall. Bark rough. Vertically corky; branches smoothish. Needles 8-12 cm, (much shorter on the adjacent tree) in bundles of 5, pointing forward. Needles 3-angled, ribbed, one face green, one face white, and one face mixed green/white. Cones single, terminal, large, 13 cm long by 11 cm diameter; projections rounded, blunt without spines or sharp points.