Ekebergia capensis trunk

The base of this large Ekebergia capensis tree growing in the Pretoria National Botanical Garden shows the tendency towards fluting and even buttressing sometimes seen on the lower trunk parts of these trees.

The bark is pale grey to almost black, all on the same trunk. There is even a greenish sheen where a light covering of mossy growth serves to convince people likely to get lost where north might be. The roughness of the bark is fairly shallow, old bits persisting in scattered knobbliness over the paler, smooth younger layer(s).

Young stems of E. capensis, less than 6 mm in diameter, are covered in pale lenticels as well as the scars left by dropped off leaf petioles.

The wood of this tree is pale brownish to white and good for cabinet making (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002).