BEAUTIFUL FOREST ELDER FOR SMALL GARDENS
he forest elder or is usually a small tree 3 â 6m high in cultivation, but very old specimens can reach up to 25m in forested habitats in the family, this evergreen tree occurs mainly in eastern South Africa along the coast of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, extending northwards to Mpumalanga and Limpopo, and to tropical Africa. It has a solitary, often contorted trunk and a nicely rounded, dense crown of curved, dark green and shiny elliptic leaves. The beautifully sculptured bark is rough and brownish-grey, and peels with age. From late autumn until mid-spring, the tree becomes smothered with dense clouds of minute, creamy-white, sweet-scented flowers, maturing to clusters of small egg-shaped fruits containing minute seeds.
