Senegalia nigrescens crown

The crown of this young knob thorn tree, photographed during July in the Sabie area, shows some of the old season’s leaves. They are still green among the spindly upper branches that are pale yellow to grey in colour. Bigger branches are pale with the knobs that give Senegalia nigrescens its common name clearly in evidence.

When the tree blooms in spring, white to cream flower spikes, the halmark of the Senegalia genus, adorn the branches before the leaves appear, rendering the tree conspicuous in its habitat. While in bud, the young calyces of the emerging flowers give the tree a red to purplish colouring before the flowers open. This is a different, also attractive sight in the tree’s flowering cycle (Carr, 1976; Coates Palgrave, 2002).