Peltophorum africanum pods

The woody pods of Peltophorum africanum are flat and elliptic, tapering to both ends. They become up to 10 cm long, 2 cm wide and have wing-like margins.

These dark ones hanging from a branch near Sabie were photographed in July when they should be just about ripe. They won’t split open to disperse the seeds as the pods of many other species do. They’ll just dangle there among the leaves until decay catches up with them, releasing the seeds from the rotten pod.

More likely, the highly visible pods among the green of the leaves will be browsed by some animal, the pods hanging in such convenient mouthful clusters. The browser will carry the seeds in its digestive tract for several hours, dispersing them some distance away.

The digestive process does no harm to the ripe seed, but weakens its hard outer covering, sometimes necessary for allowing or hastening germination.

In return for this service, the animal is fed. The dung coating comes in handy for facilitating germination after rain (Coates Palgrave, 2002).