Sterculia murex

Sterculia murex, commonly known as the Lowveld star-chestnut, is an initially slender, later rounded tree reaching heights from 10 m to 12 m (SA Tree List No. 475).

The leaves have petioles up to 18 cm long. There are up to nine lanceolate leaflets spreading palmately around the tip of each stalk.

The yellow-green to yellow-brown, saucer-shaped flowers have red centres. They grow in clusters from leaf axils without petals, the sepals petal-like. Many of the flowers are male, bearing spreading clusters of stamens. Flower diameter is from 2 cm to 3 cm.

The odd-looking, profusely long-spined green fruits are conspicuous in autumn. The three to five carpels are joined at the base. When the ripe fruit splits, about ten smooth black seeds of up to 3 cm long are revealed.

The species distribution in South Africa is in the northeast of the country, only in northern Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo; more widely in southern Africa.

The habitat is bushveld ridges and koppies, often in sandy sourveld. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

See also the plant record on this plant (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).