THEY are still only saplings, hiding in the marshy long grass in Uvongo’s Biddy Taylor Park but the four newly planted Barringtonia racemosa will be quite a sight when they grow up.
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The park, an open area adjacent to Saints Walk near the pumphouse, has a little stream running through it and much of the rest of it is swampy wetland. For this reason, when the four young trees needed a home, the Ivungu River Conservancy decided that the park would be the perfect place to plant them. Often called the brackwater mangrove, this species likes to have its feet wet, although it copes with drier conditions.
According to Elsa Pooley’s field guide, ‘Trees of Natal’, this tree is found on the fringe of coastal swamp forests and alongside our rivers and estuaries.
It also goes by the descriptive common name of powder puff tree, because of its large, white, powder puff flowers. A grove of flowering Barringtonia racemosa trees is a wonderful sight. For this reason the four saplings have been planted near Saints Walk where strollers, walkers and runners using the popular coastal pathway will be able to enjoy them.
Saints Walk also forms part of the Uvongo parkrun so conservancy members hope that, when the trees mature, their beautiful flowers will inspire visiting and local runners.
The Ivungu River Conservancy has for many years conserved the Ivungu river Reserve and it also does its best to keep the Saints Walk area free of alien invasives.
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