Tabernaemontana elegans

Tabernaemontana elegans is a small, semi-deciduous tree that reaches heights from about 3 m to 5 m (SA Tree List. No. 644). Where conditions are favourable, mostly relating to soil quality and water availability, it may reach unusual heights, up to 12 m. Away from water the lower heights are achieved.

Commonly known as the laeveldse paddaboom or toad tree, this tree is as noteworthy for its name as for its beauty. The large glossy leaves, the fragrant flowers and the strangely shaped fruit get forgotten before questions such as: Do toads feed on it? Does it bear toads? Do they gather there? And more!

The toad tree grows a single, erect stem and branches low down. The bark is thick, corky and deeply fissured longitudinally on old stems. The colour is light brown to grey. Young branches have tough, stringy bark marked by leaf scars and lenticels.

The toad tree grows in South Africa only in parts of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, but widespread in neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, as well as in tropical East Africa.

The habitat is subtropical and tropical, savanna, wooded grassland, scrub forest and riverine fringes. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

Another species, T. ventricosa occurs in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, the Lowveld and to the north in Africa, while a third one, T. stapfiana is found in Zimbabwe (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; iNaturalist; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).