African Wildlife & Environment Issue 81

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

relatively thin because the 'stone' is large and it has a strong, distinctive and slightly 'turpentine' flavour. The extremely nutritious seeds, or kernels, that are enclosed in an extremely hard shell (the 'stone') are difficult to extract.

germinate unless they had passed through an elephant’s gut. Clearly, they had never been across the road into the communal lands where there are no elephants!

Male inflorescence (above left) and female flowers with young leaves (above right). Below left, female flower close-up

A young tree showing its upright growth and ascending branches (top left), and below that the bark of a young and mature Marula (above)

Marula reproduction – the fruit As many will know, Marulas grow to be sizeable trees that possibly live for 100-200 years.They are drought- deciduous and dioecious (meaning male and female flowers are found on different individuals – di- being Latin for two, and -oecious from the Greek - oikia meaning house, so two houses/dwellings). Marulas flower just as they are developing new leaves in spring, the fruits ripen in late summer, and are much sought after by both people and animals; notably elephants. The male flowers are clustered on short spikes while and the female flowers are produced singly on short stalks, and can be fairly cryptic. The fruit has four chambers, but mostly one or more ovules abort so the extremely hard 'stone' generally has less than four chambers (two or three seems the most common). When ripe, the fruit has a light-yellow skin, with succulent, sweet-tasting, whitish-flesh that is

Nevertheless, people do smash these hard 'stones' to extract the kernels.When I was a boy in Zimbabwe, my mother used to buy a small orange-pocket sized bag full of kernels/'nuts' every year that she used for baking. Even today, where possible, people collect vast numbers of fruits and the pulp is fermented making a deliciously refreshing drink that in time ferments to make a potent beer. Today many fruits are also gathered to make the internationally famous alcoholic beverage AMarula®. Oft times the 'nuts' are then removed from the remaining 'stones'.

22 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 81 (2022)