Tanzania tree question
 

We stayed at the Arumeru River Lodge and saw a tree with huge thorns (like hershey kisses!) on the trunk. I have searched the internet but cannot find what kind of tree it is. Does anyone have any ideas?

I believe it's the Knobthorn Acacia. Saw some in Zimbabwe too.

Was it the whistling thorn acacia? http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/whistling_thorn.htm

Did you notice what the leaves looked like? Thin and feather like or large with three leaves? Did it have any flowers?

If it was not what has been suggested above I think it might be Erythrina Caffra Caffra, or the Coral tree. The tounger form has large, short pointed swellings that fit the description of a herschey kliss.

here's a pic of the Knobthorn:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/2gbup6

Yes, Mat, I think it is the Knobthorn Acacia.

Mkhonzo, I don't remember the leaves as I only took pics of the thorns! But it did not have flowers and I think the leaves were probably large.

Thanks!

large leaves make the acacia family a doubtful starter. Maybe there is a leaf in the backgound of your shot, can you post it? Or email it to me?

Hi jill_h

i've been to Arumeru, but cannot remember...
some books refer to these "hersheys" as 'spiny bosses'

you can't identify the tree by looking at a trunk photo only...

i agree with mkhonzo it may well be a <b>Erythrina spp.</b>
this was also my first guess
&amp; mkhonzo is right again about the leaf description

since a lodge may have non-indigenous (=exotic) species, one candidate can be <b>Chorisia speciosa </b>
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/53568/
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/89522/

There are other canditates e.g. <b> Zanthoxylum usambarensis (Fagara usambarensis ) </b> a species of prickly-ash

aby

Patty - the &quot;whisteling-thorn&quot; Acacia drepanolobium has gall-like spiny structures (where Crematogaster ants live), on the branches not on the trunk

sorry should be &quot;Whistling&quot;

okay aby, the Chorisia speciosa is also a possibility. If I can figure out how to post my pics, it'll show what I'm talking about. I don't have a picture of the leaves as they were non-descript -- the thorns had all of my attention.

Oops, I missed the part in the OP about being the trunk! I read to hershey kisses and stopped :D

jill_h
also
the reason i wrote &quot;Erythrina spp&quot;, is because the genus has got a few species
with these spiny bosses (in addition to the one Mkhonzo named)
e.g.
<i> <b>Erythrina greenwayi</b> .... covered with <font color="red">thick woody spiny bosses </font>particularly near the base of the bole <i></i></i>
http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/bd/africa...n&amp;id=63810

<i> <b>Erythrina abyssinica </b>
<font color="red">trunk armed with woody bosses</font> </i>
http://www.ville-ge.ch/cjb/bd/africa...n&amp;id=63774

aby