Sterculia africana

Sterculia africana (Lour.) Fiori

Common names

Tick tree, false baobab (English); mulele (bemba/Kunda/Nyanja/Tumbuka).

Sterculia africana is a medium-sized tree up to 12 m tall, which is most easily distinguished by its fluted bole and colourful pinkish bronze to liver green, rather smooth bark and its star-shaped leaves. Bark a colourful patchwork of pale brown, yellowish green, pink and liverish brown, peeling off in patches. Leaves simple, crowded at the ends of the branches. Large, typically 15 x 15 cm, with 3-5 shallow lobes; olive green, sparsely to densely hairy and often harsh to the touch. Petiole hairy and up to 10 cm long. Flowers yellow with red ‘honeyguides’, 1.2-2.5 cm in diameter, produced before the leaves in sparsely branched, terminal racemes up to 13 cm long and clustered at the ends of the branches (September-November). Fruit consists of 1, 3 or 5 yellowish brown velvety, beaked carpels, up 15 cm long, splitting open to reveal blue-grey seeds which are surrounded by irritant hairs (January-June).

Sterculia africana can be confused with Sterculia quinqueloba but the latter species occurs in rocky, hilly habitats away from the river, has much larger leaves and smaller fruit.

Range and habitat

Sterculia africana occurs throughout the Zambezian region and also into Namibia, Angola, DR Congo and Tanzania. Its distribution also extends to north eastern Africa and the Arabian Peninsular. In the Luangwa Valley, it is found in mixed alluvial thicket, Combretum thicket and on termite mounds. It is also an occasional tree in mopane woodland, on alluvium and on rocky slopes.