This is the 92nd article in an ongoing series that highlights the riches of Pigeon Valley, the urban nature reserve in the heart of Glenwood. The focus of this article is on the fruits the forest provide.
The forest constantly provides a lengthy menu of food for its residents: fruit, insects, reptiles, birds, alates (“flying ants”), leaves, seeds and so on, depending on what species you are. Honey is a valued product, and even wax is for the Honeyguides. Of course, some species, like the Black Sparrowhawk, Vervet Monkeys, Genets and Spotted Eagle-Owl, forage further into the neighbouring area.
Here, though, I wish to focus on foods that humans eat. Perhaps the most dramatic show of food is that of the monkey-oranges from the two Strychnos species in the reserve, Strychnos gerrardii (Coast Monkey-orange or umGuluguhla) and Strychnos decussata (Cape-teak Bitterberry or umPhathawenkosi). When unripe, the fruits are blue-green, due to the presence of the poison strychnine, which gradually breaks down. If you are able to open the hard shell of a ripe fruit, you find seeds that have a chewy covering and a sweet pith. It would be a great food except that it has a distinctly bitter aftertaste. Although the Red Duikers have little ability to open the hard fruit, they love it, and the security guard along Bowes-Lyon Avenue picks up ripe fruit and breaks it open for a Duiker just over the fence as an act of kindness to the natural world.
ALSO READ: Exploring Pigeon Valley: The Ashy Flycatcher
A less well-known fruit is that of Lagynias lasiantha (Smooth Pendent-medlar or umViyoshwana); its fruit are a shiny brown when first ripe and the pith of the fruit is sour but very tasty. My favourite to eat is the fruit of Englerophytum natalense (Natal Milkplum or umThongwane), which is pleasantly sweet, but I seldom encounter it. Of course, a childhood favourite was Carissa bispinosa (Num-num, better known to us as amaThungula), with its plentiful flesh and sticky white latex, though Pigeon Valley’s extensive canopy limits its ability to provide enough fruit.
People would make great jam from the fruit. Perhaps the rarest fruit is that of Celtis mildbraedii (Natal Elm or uZinhlu); the ripe fruit is like a small cherry, sweet and fragrant, though very seldom found, as the Thick-billed Weavers almost always get there first.
Crispin Hemson chairs the Friends of Pigeon Valley, a group that undertakes clearing of alien plants, keeps records of bird and mammal sightings and alerts management to any problems.
The Friends have a monthly walk at 7.30am on the second Saturday of each month. Email: friendsofpigeonvalley1@gmail.com.
Do you want to receive news alerts via Telegram? Send us a message (not an sms) with your name and surname to 060 532 5535.
You can also join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
PLEASE NOTE: If you have signed up for our news alerts you need to save the Berea Mail Telegram number as a contact to your phone, otherwise you will not receive our alerts
Here’s where you can download Telegram on Android or Apple
