Ochna pulchra

Ochna pulchra, commonly known as the peeling bark or peeling plane, and in Afrikaans as the lekkerbreek (nice break, literally, but meaning the branches break easily), is a small tree reaching heights from 3 m to 7 m (SA Tree List No. 483). The peeling of upper bark that gives the stems a two-toned colouring has already happened on thin upper branches just below the flowers in picture.

The simple, alternate leaves appear concurrently with the flowers at the end of winter. Colour change characterises these deciduous leaves during the course of their long season upon the tree: from fresh yellow-green when young in spring, glossy green in summer to coppery in autumn before they fall. 

A profusion of yellow inflorescences cover some stem tips in the photo. 

The species distribution is north of the Vaal River in South Africa, in Gauteng, North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, extending to neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and maybe further afield in tropical Africa.

The habitat is open woodland, sourveld and mixed bushveld at lower to medium altitudes, where the trees grow in sandy soils of quartzite or granite slopes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).