Broad-leaved Coral Tree; Breeblaarkoraalboom (Afrik); umGcwabagcwaba, siPhama (Siswati); Mphapha (North Sotho); Muvhale (Venda); umNqwane( Xhosa); umGqwabagqwaba, umQongqazi (Zulu) Article by Geoff Nichols

This deciduous rounded crowned tree of the rocky north west facing hillsides of the eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo provinces, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe is a feature of the grasslands that just edge onto the escarpments that drop down into the Lowveld areas of Southern Africa. The large broad rough textured tri-foliate leaves make a very bold statement in the veld but in a garden this is even more noticeable due to the fact that the tree when planted up close to you in a smaller scale area than the open expanses of Africa seems just that much larger. This species tends to flower a little later than its cousins and I have seen flowers in July here on the coast but as you move inland the flowers will still be on the tree in late August or September. The flowers are bright red and it is at this time against the brown colour of the veld grasses that this tree comes into its own.

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The flowers are also more robust and chunky in size and texture. Even as a young tree the trunk is corky and thick allowing this species to survive the winter fires that sweep across the grassland slopes where it makes it home.

As a garden plant you need to get a young seedling and place it in a sunny well drained spot where it can be allowed to grow to its full size without being cramped by other trees or buildings. This tree will grow from truncheons but I really would not urge gardeners to go out and remove large branches off wild trees simply because if this pruning is not done with a bit of thought you can spoil the shape of a wild tree. But this is my personal opinion and I am sure people removing truncheons will take the shape of the original tree into consideration.

Seed is produced in large round segmented pods that again stand out when they are ripe. The seeds are bright red and about 10mm in size roughly oval in shape. The seed will germinate easily in about 10 days if sown in a tray of normal seedling mix that is kept in a warm sunny spot. I always nick the hard seed coat to speed up the germination process. However if you live in a frost area the seedlings need to be kept sheltered for the first year and then the plant is able to withstand frost like its parent after that.
Remember this is not an instant tree it takes at least 20 years for a seedling to begin looking like a tree and it will also take that time for the tree to produce its first flowers. This is one of the reasons that gardeners prefer to take truncheons for their gardens so that they can see flowers in a shorter time. Sunbirds, Vervet Monkeys if this tree is growing within striking distance of a forest or valley bushveld and many insects visit the flowers to sip the nectar and feed on the pollen.