TREE LIFE 538
JUNE 2025
PLANNED EVENTS:- JUNE
Since inclement weather or other issues may vary our plans, WhatsApp Tony Alegria on 0772 438 697 to join our WhatsApp group for last minute updates.
Saturday 7th June 2025:- visit to the National Botanic Gardens. Meet at 8.30 in the main car park and join us for a morning looking at trees that catch our interest.
Saturday 28th June 2025:- Main outing will be a visit to Frances and Peter Morris’ property which is also the home of Mary Lovemore. The wealth of trees and other plants have been planted over the years, and it is a chance to see some more unusual trees as well as picking the brains of these 3 eminent Tree Society members.
As this is a private property, detailed directions will be posted on the member’s WhatsApp group 1 week before the outing.
NOTE: For the purposes of our newsletter, all species of acacia have been given their specific genus name, Vachellia or Senegalia.
STILL NEEDED
We are often asked by folk who have a real use for a copy of “A New Zimbabwean Botanical Check List of English and African Plant Names” (The vernacular names book) by L J Mullin. These were originally given to members at no cost, but if you find you are not using yours, please hand it over to Tony or one of the committee.
REPORTS FROM PREVIOUS OUTINGS
SATURDAY 3RD MAY 2025:- NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDEN OUTING
By Mark Hyde, photos by Mark Hyde and Jim Dryburgh
We had an excellent turnout for the May walk in the National Botanic Garden, namely Ann Sinclair, Busi Malunga, Dawn Siemers, Dido de Swardt, Hans Wolbert, Jan van Bel, Jenny Whitaker, Jim Dryburgh, Karl van Laeren, Mark Hyde, Phakamani Sithole, Sonya Messick, Stuart Wood and Tony Alegria.
Today’s walk under the leadership of Tony, took us over to the National Herbarium building where we examined the trees nearby, most of which are exotic. As a follow-up to last week’s discussion of 2-pinnate leaves, Tony showed us the leaves of Radermachera sinica which has an essentially 2-pinnate leaf, but the lowest leaflets are replaced by a pinna so that the leaf becomes 3-pinnate towards the base. The arrangement is quite similar to the leaf of Melia azedarach, the Seringa berry.
Flowers of
Radermachera sinica
Incidentally, the tree was flowering. It has white flowers with long corolla tubes, possibly pollinated by moths or bats.
Nearby was Pistacia chinensis. This has a 1-pinnate leaf which is actually paripinnate, lacking a terminal leaflet. Presumably originally planted in the Garden this is a species which has taken off and specimens may be seen quite frequently. Someone asked if it was related to pistachio nuts and indeed it is, our species is known as the Chinese pistachio but the true pistachio is Pistacia vera.
Tony also discussed the need to look closely at trees, even those we know. Near the Herbarium entrance to the Garden is a group of flamboyants (spectacular in November). These have large 2-pinnate leaves with numerous small leaflets. The interesting thing is that the stipules at the base of the leaf stalk are themselves pinnate. Unfortunately the stipules tend to fall off fairly quickly and we struggled to find any on the mature leaves at this time of the year.
Terminalia bellirica
On next to a species of Terminalia. Our native species all have 2-winged fruit and so it comes as a surprise to discover that elsewhere some species lack wings altogether. One such species, Terminalia bellirica, is planted in the Asian section of the garden. This is native from Pakistan to Indonesia and the fruits are weakly 5-lobed.
We also looked at the Terminalia “mantaly”, but I have written a separate article about that below.
Bauhinia x blakeana
The hybrid Bauhinia x blakeana was flowering nicely. This is a sterile hybrid between B. purpurea and B. variegata and can often be identified and separated from the parent species by the absence of pods which are usually produced abundantly by the parents. The interesting thing is that this hybrid does produce a few pods. I have never been able to examine one and see if there are seeds; obviously one would expect not, but it would be interesting to find out.
Thanks must go again to Tony for leading an interesting walk.
TERMINALIA MANTALY AND T. TRICRISTATA – ONE PROBLEM ONLY SOLVED
Umbrella tree in the Botanical gardens
By Mark Hyde, photos by Mark Hyde and Amadou Bahleman Farid ex iNaturalist.
By the road to the Herbarium is one of these ‘umbrella trees’ which are so popular in Harare these days.
Fruit from the Umbrella Tree in the Botanical Gardens
I have always assumed that these trees were Terminalia mantaly, a Madagascan endemic first collected near the Madagascan town of Mantaly. Although these trees are now abundant in Harare, I have never seen fruits on any of them, and it was with some excitement a few years ago that I came across fruits on this particular tree. They were flat with 2 wings and had a series of 2-3 ridges across the central seed.
At this stage I still believed I was looking at T. mantaly and this is the name I confidently gave to the very same tree in Tree Life 523 (March 2024).
Fruits of Terminalia mantalyRecently, however, it has come to light that the true T. mantaly has wingless fruits like T. bellirica.
Two questions then arose. (1) What is the name of the tree in the Botanic Garden? (2) Have I misnamed all the umbrella trees occurring in Harare?
As far as (1) is concerned, I have managed to name the Botanical Gardens species as Terminalia tricristata, another Madagascan endemic. The species name means ‘three-crested’ and probably refers to the ridges on the central portion of the fruit.
As to (2) I suspect that the T. tricristata is a special one-off tree, occurring as it does in the Botanic Garden and it is likely that elsewhere in the gardens of the Harare and the horticultural trade we do have true T. mantaly.
However it would be nice to have evidence of this. I would like to make a plea to our members to examine carefully any umbrella trees they come across and let me know what sort of fruit they have. If I get any information I will do a follow-up article.
MAIN MEETING, AGM & SOCIAL THE TREE OUTING TO VAL D’OR SUNDAY, 11TH MAY 2025
By Rob Kelly with photos by Jim Dryburgh
36 members attended the day which was, as last year, great fun and interesting. One of the best things gained from attending the day was to meet all the other members – those not seen for some time and those that one has never met before, to share experiences (and some rumours!). It really was a good day.
Some of us braved the ‘scenic route’ via the Arcturus Road to reach Bill and Fiona Clarke’s home, Val d’Or near Arcturus, where the event was held. This was quite an adventure in itself with humps, bumps, blind alleys and detours into the bush to bypass the worst bits of road. Total time from Harare was about 45 minutes. The less adventurous but more sensible took the longer but easier route via the Mutare road. All arrived intact and in time to enjoy the wonderful spread of cakes and other goodies with tea and coffee and time to chat and catch up.
The AGM kicked off with Tony Alegria, our chairman, giving his report for the year in his normal humorous way, listing the many events that had been held during the year and encouraging greater participation. Thanks were extended to all those who had helped in organising and making the various events successful. There was a vote of thanks for Tony and his committee, Mark Hyde, Bill Clarke, Jan van Bel, Teague Howson, Sibusiso Malunga and Ann Sinclair. All were elected to serve for another year.
Under ‘Any other business’ Wendelin Zwanikken asked what books or publications were the best for identifying of Zimbabwe trees. A number of books were mentioned and the final outcome was that the Society should make a list of all the relevant books/publications/articles for use by members and others.
Rob Kelly reported that the Friends of Nyanga National Park, who have been conducting the annual game count in Nyanga National Park for the past 8 years have now taken on the task, together with National Parks, of selecting areas of the various typical vegetation types in the park in order to eliminate invasive species, mainly Pinus patula, wattle and Blackwood (or Australian) Acacia, to preserve these vegetation types into the future.
The AGM was followed by more tea, coffee and eats accompanied by much chatting, to the extent that Tony was hard pressed to bring the party to order for the next event – the Tree Hunt. Bill had numbered 30 trees scattered about the garden which had to be found first of all and then identified, if possible, all in 30 minutes. There were 6 teams.
Green Team: Tony Alegria, Peter Dean, Glynis Kelly, Adrian Maasdorp, Marina Mason, Jenny Swift
Orange Team: Teig Howson, Sheila Jarvis, Dawn Siemers, Jan van Bel, Peter Zwanikken
Black Team: Pam Alegria, Barbara Dean, Mark Hyde, Jenny Whitaker, Stuart Wood
Purple Team: Barbara Maasdorp, Skip Mackay, Ian Riddell, Ashton Willcock, Pam Woods, Wendelin Zwanikken, Fiona Clarke
Red Team: Linda Hyde, Rob Jarvis, John Lawrence, Mary Lovemore, Frances Morris, Richard Whitaker
Pink Team: Jim Dryburgh, Les Johnson, Rob Kelly, Jenny Mackay, Peter Morris, Mickie Roberts
Finding the numbers was tricky in itself. Then identification of the ‘found’ trees was equally challenging. There was much scurrying about the garden, all the time keeping a beady eye on other teams to see where they had located numbered trees. The 30 minutes was far too short, but we all had a fun time trying to bring our ‘little grey cells’ into action. The Green Team emerged the winner and was presented with their prize, a Mars Bar for each member of the team. Losing teams received consolation prizes, exactly the same as the winning team!! Trust Bill who organised the event.
Having spent some energy running around the garden building up an appetite, drinks and lunch were most welcome. Frances Morris had made a pulled pork dish together with a number of salads, side dishes and condiments, all with a Mexican theme. Ice cream and chocolate sauce was for dessert. It was worth attending the day even just for the lunch!! Thank you, Frances. In addition to the drinks each member had brought there was wine and some exotic liquids.
Refreshed, we were all ready for another hilarious Bill Clarke event, The Quiz. There were a total of 100 questions divided up into 4 sets of 25. After each 25 questions, teams handed their paper to the team next to them for marking. Scores after each set were read out so the tension built up as each set was completed keeping everyone on their toes. Bill certainly excelled in finding some way-out questions, some of which nobody knew the answers to. One such question was “What do the letters WBR stand for in relation to women?” It will have to remain a mystery for all who were unable to attend. Bill’s answers were challenged on occasions, but he had announced at the start of the quiz that his, the Quiz Masters verdict, was final, whether right or wrong. Winner of The Quiz was the Pink Team. Prises were dished out by the Easter bunny, alias Bill Clarke, this time delicious chocolate Easter eggs.
Bill and Fiona’s beautiful blue orchid
The Quiz was the last event of the day. It had been a fun day.
All of us sadly drifted off back home with good memories and the pleasant anticipation of next year’s AGM day.
A special thanks to Bill and Fiona for the use of their home, putting so much thought and effort into the day and making all of us so welcome.
MAIN MEETING, AGM & SOCIAL :- IMPRESSIONS FROM A NEW MEMBER
By Richard Whitaker
I so enjoyed the fun day at the recent AGM.
You talked about wanting articles for your website. Herewith is what I would call “The first impressions of a new member”.
A couple of weeks ago, my dear wife went for a tree walk at the botanical gardens. By the time the walk had ended she had been persuaded to join The Tree Society. This did not shock me because she really is delightful company, and I was not surprised that they wanted her to join their fellowship. But what did shock me was that she had also signed me up to become a member.
She had clearly not thought it through. How was it going to end when the esteemed members of the Tree-Huggers discovered that they had inadvertently allowed a self-confessed pyromaniac into their midst – someone who spent a great deal of time lighting fires and burning trees.
It got worse. My wife informed me that we were going to be attending the A.G.M. of the Tree Society the following weekend out in the Ruwa countryside.
I survived! Not only did I survive but I actually thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I cannot wait for the next meeting.
Firstly, the members of this Tree Society are the most pleasant group of people I have met in ages. There were plenty of larger-than-life characters, many eccentrics and a few people who were clearly confused. For some unknown reason, some of them came dressed as Mexicans! But they were all the nicest people one could hope to meet; highly intelligent, good talkers and good listeners (a rarity nowadays), quick-witted and humorous, tolerant, considerate and generally the best possible company. It is a fact that one only finds people like them amongst groups that spend a lot of time out of doors, mucking about in God’s creation.
Secondly, the event was meticulously well planned. There was not a single thing that could be faulted from the carefully labelled stakes in the ground with a ‘P’ on them (not outdoor urinals for the men but parking bays) to the beautiful setting in a stunning garden. The A.G.M. business broke all world records for speed and there was zero waffle. After all, there were much more interesting things to do.
Thirdly, the lunch was truly epic. What a spread! I suspect that there were about twenty different dishes, all absolutely delicious. It was abundantly clear that a huge amount of love and effort had gone into the preparation of the food, and those two ingredients will always be the tastiest of any meal. (I have just realised that the lunch could have been in the category of Mexican Food. Maybe I missed the brief that the theme of the event was Mexican!)
I guess I had better explain my pyromania. I have a passion for lighting fires in a very large number of different ways. However, my actual passion is to get young people away from screens and to inspire them to have great fun outdoors. I run Survival Clubs for kids and it is extremely rewarding.
My thanks go to the people who are the driving force behind the Tree Society. I am also grateful for the fact that our country is blessed with many people and societies with a mandate to protect our environment. There is an important lesson to learn. The grass may be greener elsewhere in terms of economy or politics but the thing that makes this country so very, very special is the people. I know that, because I met several dozens of them at my first A.G.M.
FROM SIR OLIVER LODGE TO THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER
Sir Oliver Lodge was an English physicist and who worked in the infant field of radio communication. As a communicator one of the remembered sayings of his was that:
“Men of science would do well to talk in plain English; I make particular appeal to botanists who appear to delight in troublesome words!”
AGM Chairman’s Report May 2025
Welcome to the 75th Annual General Meeting of the Tree Society of Zimbabwe. I have pleasure in presenting my tenth annual Chairman’s report covering the year 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025.
Tree Outings: Besides meeting at the National Botanical Garden every month, we had quite a busy year with outings to: Val d’Or (AGM & Social); Prince Edward School; Wavell Road, Saint Michael’s Presentation Primary School; Ewanrigg Botanical Garden; Athol Evans; Doon Estates; Patrick Mavros; Borrowdale Veterinary Clinic; Gambles Garden & Greystone Nature Preserve.
Many thanks to the residents of these properties for hosting us.
Tree Leaders: We are still short of leaders and we would really like a few more. You don’t have to know everything as whoever is participating can “chip in” and make the outings even more special!
Weekend Trip: From 2nd October to 10th October, we had an extended “weekend trip” last year to Matabeleland. During this time, we went to two locations: Firstly, to Camp Dwala whose terrain appears to be the southern extension of the Matopos National Park with many dwalas and rocky outcrops. And then to the West Nicolson area to Di Drummond’s farm – Rocky Glen which is only about 130Kms from Beitbridge. Many thanks to Frances Morris for organizing the extended trip and doing all the catering.
Nineteen of us went on this trip and our greatest fear was that we wouldn’t be able to cope with the heat. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there was a cold front which had us searching in our bags for anything we could find to stop us from freezing!
The resulting reports of that botanising week-long trip appeared in Tree Life 531 & 532.
Tree Life: Linda Hyde has now been our editor for over a year and is doing a great job! Not only is she sending Tree Life out in time but she also puts them onto our website which is a big plus. Those of us who have placed Tree Life’s on the website know what a challenge that can be. Linda also has the ability to persuade people to write articles which I find is a really difficult thing to do – I guess that’s why I write so many of them!
Thanks to those who contributed write-ups during the last year for Tree Life – in order of appearance: Linda Hyde; Tony Alegria; Mark Hyde; Fay Robertson; Mary Toet; Don Lapham; Rob Kelly; Jan van Bel; Ian Riddell; John Lawrence; Karl van Laeren; Stuart Wood; Barbara Maasdorp; Frances Morris; Ann Sinclair; Di Drummond; Fiona Lawrence & Beth Goodwin. Seven of these contributions are as a result of our trip to Matabeleland!
Articles for Tree Life: This is what I said last year: “To keep Tree Life going, we need articles. Reports on outings are just not enough – we need more! I believe that all of us are quite capable of writing a tree story. So, support your society – there must be millions of tree-related funny or serious stories out there! And don’t worry about the English – it can always be fixed! “. That’s still true!
Tree Life 536 has an article resulting from a tree walk on Willowmead Road by Mark, Jan and myself. I would like all of you to look at whatever road you live on and if you think there are some interesting trees there, contact me and I will organize a tree walk we can write about. It would be great to have a “My Street Trees” in every Tree Life!
Finances: The financial position of the Society remains satisfactory. The accounts and balance sheet will be presented by Bill Clarke. Bill looked at the society’s needs and set the annual subscriptions to what they are now.
Tree Society Facebook group: Since last year the group membership has been increasing steadily – we now have about 5900 members. Mark Hyde looks after our Facebook page.
Tree Society Website: For quite a while we have had a problem with people trying to send us messages via the website. This problem has recently been rectified by the person who designed and installed the website. I’m pleased to report that we now have Linda & Mark Hyde, Jan van Bel and Ian Riddell as extra members who are able to do some things on the website. More lessons are coming up!
Herbarium fumigation: We pay for this vital service and the National Herbarium was fumigated twice last year. It needs to be done again pretty soon!
Tree Labeling: Tree labelling has continued in the National Botanical Garden where we now have over 500 trees identified. The new 500 tree National Botanical Garden pamphlet has recently been emailed to all of you.
There are a few trees we have been unable to identify, mainly exotic, and so we have begun a new initiative. We have labelled these unknown trees with a “U” numbered label U1, U2 …. etc. The list of “U” trees will be placed on the website with a description and photos of each tree. We will then ask Kew Gardens to identify these trees and if they are unable to, they can contact Herbariums in many countries to look at our website page and see if they can help.
We are preparing to re-label the trees at Ewanrigg. The person in charge there is quite keen to involve some of his staff in the exercise. I’m pleased that the Toll Gate has been relocated further down the road so now we can by-pass it when we go to Ewanrigg.
Just a reminder that anyone can join us during the tree labelling days. We walk about +- 3kms, so it’s a bit of exercise, albeit a bit slow!
Socials: We now combine the social with the AGM which has improved attendance. Last year’s AGM/Social, was hosted by Bill & Fiona at this venue and I thank them for hosting this year’s AGM/Social. Once again the Society will pay for the lunch. I thank Frances Morris for providing the lunch we will be enjoying later on. I thank all of you who brought something for our tea.
Membership: As at the end of March 2025, we had 111 members, comprising 89 local members, 14 external and 8 honorary members. This is an increase of four more than last year.
Committee: Unfortunately, Ryan Truscott left us as he has relocated to South Africa. The current committee now consists of the following members: Ann Sinclair, Bill Clarke, Busi Malunga, Mark Hyde, Teig Howson, Jan van Bel and myself. As editor, Lind Hyde is an ex-officio member. We are all available for re-election today.
Constitution: The last time we amended it was ten years ago. Since then, we have a website that anyone in the world can look at and we are concerned that privacy issues may not be sufficiently addressed. Many things have changed in Zimbabwe in the last ten years so, we need to see if the Constitution needs to be amended in any way. Are our objectives still relevant today? The new committee will look at the Constitution, with whatever help is needed, and come up with amendments/additions or deletions which will need ratification at a general meeting. Have a look at it and let the committee know of any changes you think are necessary. Now you know why it was sent it to you!
In conclusion … We have had another very busy and interesting year!
Thank you.
Tony Alegria
Chairman
SOCIETY COMMITTEE AND CONTACTS
Chairman Tony Alegria tonyalegria47@gmail.com 0772 438 697
Vice Chairman Mark Hyde mahyde@gmail.com 0772 233 751
Honorary Treasurer Bill Clarke wrc@mweb.co.zw 0772 252 720
Secretary Teig Howson teig.howson@gmail.com 0772 256 364
Venue Organiser Ann Sinclair jimandannsincs@zol.co.zw 0772 433 125
Committee Member Jan van Bel jan_vanbel@yahoo.com 0772 440 287
Committee Member Sibusiso Malunga busimalunga@yahoo.com 0775 889 898
Tree Life Editor Linda Hyde Lmharwin@pentact.co.zw 0772 232 075
Tree Society Website https://treesociety.org.zw/
Tree Society Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/ztreesociety/
Flora of Zimbabwe: https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/
Flora of Tropical Africa: https://plants.jstor.org/collection/FLOTA
