EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Each week a different image of our fascinating environment is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional ecologist.

17-23 April 2006

Click on the images for larger versions

The Fever Trees of Zimbabwe

Fever Tree (Acacia xanthophloea), family Fabaceae

Credit & Copyright: Dr. Bruce G. Marcot

Explanation:   Here are trees of myth and stories.  We are in the lowland swamps of a remote corner of southern Zimbabwe, Africa, along the "great, grey, green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees," as Kipling wrote.  But why are these smooth-barked, greenish-yellow trees named "fever trees?"  Do they have a temperature?  Do they cause fever?

Actually, it is a good tale of how correlation and causation sometimes get intermixedFever trees grow well in wet soil along river banks and swampy areas, which also are prime habitat for the malaria-carrying mosquitos of the region which do cause fever.  Settlers of the region associated the trees with the ailment, and thus was born their name.

Fever trees provide more than fevers.  The tree is browsed by large mammals and game animals, and the firm wood can be used for timber.  The bark has medicinal value and the tree is sometimes even planted as a ornamental.
   

 Information:  
    van Wyk, B., and P. van Wyk. 1997. Field guide to trees of southern Africa. Struik Publishers (Pty) Ltd, Cape Town, South Africa. 536 pp.
  

Next week's picture:  A Tale of Three Bark Piles


< Previous ... | Archive | Index | Location | Search | About EPOW | ... Next >

Author & Webmaster: Dr. Bruce G. Marcot, Tom Bruce
Disclaimers and Legal Statements
Original material on Ecology Picture of the Week © Bruce G. Marcot

Member Theme of  Taos-Telecommunity