Boscia albitrunca, shepherds tree

There are nine Boscia tree species in South Africa. They are commonly known as shepherd’s trees and in Afrikaans as witgat (white hole). B. albitrunca is common, but not found in large numbers among the trees, in the same way as churches are common among houses in towns.

The photo is from the north of Limpopo in the valley between the mountains and the Limpopo River. Two shepherd’s tree species occur here, viz. Boscia albitrunca and B. foetida, the stinkwitgat (stink white hole). The one in the photo could be either, the photo not smelly as it is the flowers that smell.

An old witgat’s trunk appears oversized for its crown, as if leaves are underproduced although the canopy is densely leafy.

The origin of the common name is obvious: This is where the shepherd would sit for hours; a dense crown for good shade and unimpaired view for surveying his herd, just what the doctor ordered.

Why no low branches? Stock and game browse the palatable young twigs and leaves within reach, pruning the tree to a decent height until it is a spot for leisure on hot days.

Long ago the not so busy shepherd would sit here and without hurry dig up some of the tree’s roots, pound them, boil water and made coffee of the witgat roots. What remains of the pounded roots after the coffee would be added to the maize meal from the knapsack for garnishing the shepherd’s porridge. Smaller roots would be eaten raw as a vegetable.

The smooth bark, whitish to yellow-white, gives a clue as to the origin of the Afrikaans name, witgat. And the gat (hole) part of the name? In Namaqualand coffee is still sometimes called gat. This can surely be taken as a more acceptable explanation for the witgat name than white arse. 

All these stories are from long ago. And don’t burn shepherd’s tree branches! Farming consultants of the undesirable sort might tell you that cows ingesting such ashes will bear male calves only. But don’t worry, those kinds of cows have all become biltong long ago (Erasmus, 2016; Coates Palgrave, 2002).