Torchwood
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Zygophyllales
Family: Zygophyllaceae
Genus: Balanites
Species:
B. maughamii
Binomial name
Balanites maughamii

Balanites maughamii (manduro, torchwood, Afrikaans: Groendoring, Zulu: Ugobandlovu) is a species of tree native to southern and eastern Africa. It ranges from Kenya through Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Caprivi Strip of Namibia, Eswatini, and the Northern Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It is deciduous or semi-deciduous, growing to 20 (–25) meters tall, with a rounded and spreading crown. It has a fluted trunk up to 1.3 m in diameter. It rarely grows as a low shrub 1.5 to 2 m tall.[1]

It is a protected tree in South Africa.[2][3]

Groendoring, a community outside Asab in Southern Namibia is named after this tree.[4]

Twig with spikes and foliage

References

  1. ^ Balanites maughamii Sprague. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Protected Trees" (PDF). Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Republic of South Africa. 3 May 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-07-05.
  3. ^ "GRIN Species Records of Balanites". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
  4. ^ Tjituka, Martin (30 April 2013). "Groendoring struggles to keep up with Eger legacy". The Namibian.
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