Page 36 - Silver Lakes August 2021

NATURE

THE SWEET THORN

By James Clarke and Mary Broadley, Photographs by Julie Clarke-Havemann

A tree with roots deep meeting in Australia has deemed that The sweet thorn is a hardy tree and
into our history. South Africa cannot use this name relatively fast-growing - a pioneer plant
that will establish itself in most types of
anymore.
soil from sand to clay and throughout
Local botanists are incensed. southern Africa, (except in montane
t is not our national tree but it deserves regions), as far as Central Africa.
to be. It is probably our widest-known The sweet thorn has played an important
Iand most prolific – the sweet thorn or the role in South Africa’s development – in the In drier areas, sometimes picked over by
soetdoringboom of the old folksong. It has country’s industrial development, in its desperate browsers such as antelope and
at least a couple of dozen names including agricultural development . . . and even in goats, knee-high sweet thorns have found
Cape gum, Cape thorn tree, cockspur human health. a way to survive – they bristle with a tangle
thorn, karoo thorn, mimosa, white- of gleaming, closely-packed spines making
thorn and, in Afrikaans, the doringboom, In maturity, it is usually a nicely shaped tree them as unapproachable as an aggressive
karoodoring, mookana and witdoring. In with a domed evergreen crown reaching porcupine. But, as the tree matures, such
Ndebele, it is the isinga and in Tswsana, at least thirty metres high, with the most dramatic defensive measures become
it’s the mookana or mooka, while in Xhosa spectacular thorns. less necessary and the thorns tend to be
and Zulu it is the umNga. shorter and inconspicuous.
In younger trees, the thorns are slender,
So many names but there is only one that strong white spikes up to 150mm long Sweet thorns are at their showiest in
was recognised by botanists, worldwide with needle-sharp points. Needle sharp? early summer when their crowns erupt
– the Acacia karroo. That’s been its Indeed, its thorns (or spines as they are with small, golden-yellow pompoms,
scientific name for generations. But, alas, properly called) have, for centuries, been which attract several species of butterflies
a committee of international botanists used as sewing needles. including ten that are totally dependent on

34 INTRA MUROS AUGUST 2021