PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
Schotia afra
Fabaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Schotia afra

Schotia afra

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
GrowthMedium

A plant mainly of dry areas in the subtropics of southern Africa. Succeeds in full sun or in light shade. Young plants develop fairly quickly if planted in a rich, well-drained soil[1]. The flowers produce copious amounts of nectar, which attract birds, especially sunbirds[1]. The tree responds well to pruning and can be grown as a bonsai specimen[1]. The seeds are produced in a seedpod that ejects them explosively as it dries[1]. Although many species within the family Fabaceae have a symbiotic relationship with soil bacteria, this species is said to be devoid of such a relationship and therefore does not fix atmospheric nitrogen[2].

Propagation

Seed - sow in a seed tray in a semi-shady area with about 40% shade. The seeds should sown in well-drained, loamy soil and covered with around 3 - 5mm of soil. Water well once a day. Make sure the seeds are not crowded in the tray (this should prevent damping off). The seeds will swell with moisture and should germinate within 7 days. The seedlings should be allowed to develop a tap root and be in their third set of leaves before they are transplanted into planting bags. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Schotia+afra>

Pollinators

Birds

References

  1. [1]PlantZAfrica.com — http://www.plantzafrica.com ↩︎An excellent site giving detailed descriptions and uses of many S. African plants.
  2. [2]Nodulation Plants in GRIN Taxonomy — United States Department of Agriculture · http://www.ars-grin.gov/~sbmljw/cgi-bin/taxnodul.pl?language=en ↩︎An online database listing plants that have either positive or negative reports on root and stem nodulation with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.
  3. [3]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  4. [4]Flora of Southern Africa — Roux J.P. · 2003 · http://plants.jstor.org/search?st=662545 ↩︎An excellent on-line resource.
  5. [5]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.