Spirostachys africana in grassy woodland

The large bare tree with rounded crown behind the green bushes is a tamboti.

People living in the areas where tamboti grows take care to avoid the wood when making camp or cooking fires. The smoke, initially sweet and pleasant, causes headaches and taint food cooked on tamboti fires. Dont braai using this wood!

In the days of the ox wagon, tamboti stems also proved unsuitable as yokes. The wood contains an irritant that causes sores on the necks of the oxen. Good for paralysing fish and, as traditional healers might tell you, tamboti is good as a purgative, probably an ominously potent one. If toothache arrives in the bush and a dentist cant be found, apply some tamboti latex in the cavity for quick results, but be mindful of possible unintended consequences.

As a durable timber the wood possesses an attractive contrast between its creamy sapwood and dark heartwood, allowing for the manufacturing of beautiful furniture. Finding big pieces often poses a problem as the bole of a tamboti tree tends to become hollow. And keep the sawdust away from eyes! Even borers and termites know better than to attack this wood.

Bushveld browsers like black rhino and giraffe feed on the young branches, however, while kudu will pick up the fallen, coloured leaves (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Wikipedia).