Plant Identification 

South African Coral Tree

Indigenous Plant Name: Xhosa: unSintsi, umGwane, Zulu: umSini, Afrikaans: Kuskoraalboom, koraalboom, Cape kafferboom

Region: Native to the coastal regions of Southeast Africa

Colonial Violence and Naming 

Carl Thunberg named this plant; however, the name carries a violent history. The second word originally had a “c,” but the name has been edited to strike the “c” to become “affra.” The second word likely refers to the area where this tree was found, but it was also derived from the Arabic word for “indifel,” which was used as a racial slur against Black people in South Africa. 

Ecological Profile 

The trifoliolate leaves consist of three leaflets, with the terminal leaf being the largest. Flowers are borne in large clusters at the end of thick stalks and are orange-scarlet, with the lower half of the flowers curving upward to expose the stamens. The pods are narrow, cylindrical, and deeply constricted between the seeds. This species is fast-growing and exhibits orthodox seed storage behavior, meaning seeds should be sun-dried before storage and can be kept for several years. It is easy to propagate, as it grows from seed, cuttings, or truncheons, with vegetative propagation normally involving stakes more than 1.5m long, cut at the end of the dry season or the beginning of the rains. Although the seeds are said to be poisonous, the trees can be used for erosion control in soil conservation. They also serve as a protein supplement during dry periods when pasture grasses are scarce and of low nutritional value. The plant fixes atmospheric nitrogen and usually drops its leaves during dry periods, which then act as mulch. Key avian pollinators for this species include sunbirds, red-witted starlings, bulbuls, yellow weavers, and orioles.