General Info – summary.

This deciduous, much branched Tree with fluted trunk, sparse crown & warty bark is up to 12m high.  The paripinnate and asymmetric Leaves are up to 22cm long.  Leaflets are sickle-shaped.  The tiny, bisexual, white, 5-merous, Flowers in terminal panicles.  Stamens 10 with 2 aborted.  Single pistil has a superior ovary.  The hairless winged Fruit is a brown nut up to 3,5 x 1,5cm.  Ellipsoidal seeds have a papery testa.

Description.

Atalaya alata.

Previous Names: Diacarpa alata.

SA Tree No. 427.

Common name: (Afr) Lebombo Krans-esseboom, Lebombokransesseboom.  (Eng) Lebombo Krantz Ash, Lebombo Krantz-ash, Winged atalaya.  (isiZulu) Inona, Umnondo.  (siSwati) Inona, Umnondo.  Here krantz refers to a precipitous or overhanging wall of rocks in southern Africa.

Family: Sapindaceae: (Soapberry and Litchi family).  This family has 135 genera and about 1 800 species.  The alternate, usually compound Leaves often lack stipules (leaf stalk) and have a swollen base.  The small, usually unisexual, Flowers may be regular or irregular and develop in racemes or panicles.  The Calyx has 4-5 lobes and, when present, the Corolla has 3-5 petals.  There are between 5 and 24 Stamens, which have free Filaments and the Anthers have 2 pollen sacs.  The superior Ovary may have up to 3 styles, each ending in a simple stigma.  There are 27 species in 14 genera in southern Africa.  Local genera with trees on this website include Allophylus, Atalaya, Dodonaea, Erythrophysa, Filicium, Hippobromus, Pappea, Smelophyllum and Stadmannia.

Name derivation: Atalaya: East Timor name: Atalai.  alata: winged – referring to the fruit.  Until Atalaya capensis was discovered and identified in the 1930’s the genus Atalaya was considered to be only located in Timor, Australia and the southern Malay Archipelago.  A total of 3 species have now been discovered in southern Africa.

Conservation: National Status: L C. (Least Concern).  Assessed: 2005 (J.E. Victor and A.E. van Wyk).

Tree

This graceful Tree with its sparsely branched crown is up to 12m high but is usually about half this height.  It has a straight and much branched Stem (main axis of the plant, the leaf and flower bearing as distinguished from the root-bearing axis).  The light grey or whitish and warty Bark (photo 699) may be seamed crosswise and is fluted (grooved, funnelled, channelled).  The slender Branchlets are green to grey (photo 705).

Leaves

Each Leaf on this tree is paripinnate (compound leaf ending in a pair of leaflets – photo 701).  The aborted tip between the end pair of leaflets may be visible.  This tip forms part of the leaf Rachis (main axis bearing flowers or, in this case leaflets).  Leaves are up to 22cm long and tend to droop.  Prior to falling in autumn, the leaves on this deciduous tree turn a golden yellow.  The impressive new leaves are a bright green.  Each of the 5-7 pairs of narrow and opposite or nearly so Leaflets are up to 7 x 2cm and are elliptic or ovate and sickle-shaped.  The Apex is rounded or bluntly pointed.  The Midrib (a continuation of the leaf stalk or petiole) is more visible closer to the lower margin and is easier to see on the lower side (photo 702).  These thinly textured leaflets are markedly asymmetric – especially near the Base (photo 702).  On the lower surface, the base is cuneate (wedge-shaped: triangular with a narrow end-point of attachment).  The upper surface is a darker green.  The Margin is serrated or scalloped – more so towards the apical end (photo 701).  In Atalaya capensis the leaflets are usually untoothed.  In Atalaya alata the slightly hairy Petiole (leaf stalk) is up to 3cm long.  Petiolules (leaflet stalks) are up to 4mm long (photo 701).  Stipules (basal appendages of the petiole) are absent.  Crushed leaves do not have a strong smell.

Flowers

Large numbers of attractive white, very small (up to 5mm in diameter) bisexual and 5-merous Flowers develop at branchlet ends in terminal panicles (indeterminate, branched inflorescence with stalked flowers).  This inflorescence may extend up to 15cm long.  Pedicels (stalks of single flowers) are very short: up to 1,5mm.  The Calyx has 5 tiny Sepals that may reach 3mm in length.  They are imbricate (having regularly arranged, overlapping edges, as roof tiles or fish scales).  The 5 unequal Petals are usually shorter than the sepals.  They have hairy appendages on the inner face.  The Disc (a more or less fleshy or elevated development of the receptacle) has a diameter up to 2,5mm.  It is fleshy and expanded at base with the margin slightly notched.  8 Stamens remain after 2 have aborted.  They arise from within the disc.  The bases of the Filaments are hairy.  The Anthers have 2-theca (with 2 pollen sacs) and end in a short, sharp, flexible point.  There is a single Pistil (a unit of the Gynoecium, the female element of the flower, composed of the Ovary, Style and Stigma).  Here the superior Ovary is 3-locular and each locule (compartment within an organ) has a single Ovule.  The short Style ends in a simple Stigma.  (Sep-Dec).

Fruit

The hairless dry brown Fruit is a Nut (an indehiscent, 1-seeded hard bony fruit).  It has 3 propeller-like wings that are distinctly veined. Up to 2 of these may not develop.  The stiffly membranous wings are green, flushed with rosy red, and the nut is up to 3,5 x 1,5cm.  They are located in terminal clusters.  One or 2 of the wings may not develop fully.  Seeds are ellipsoid with a papery Testa (seed coat).  They lack endosperm (the starch and oil-containing tissue of many seeds; often referred to as the albumen).  (Jan-May).

Distribution & Ecology

The Trees are located on rocky slopes including at high altitudes; river gorges e.g., Crocodile River Gorge, valleys and watercourses of the Lebombo Mountains (800km long – running N-S from Punda Maria in Limpopo province to Hluhluwe in KZN, including parts of SW Mozambique and western Eswatini (Swaziland).  They also occur in the bushveld (a sub-tropical woodland ecoregion of southern Africa).  The plant is located in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga e.g., southern Kruger National Park, Limpopo, Mozambique and Swaziland.  It is thus endemic (restricted to a particular geographic location) in southern Africa.  Leaves are food plant for emperors: genus Charaxes (large butterflies).  Elephants browse the Tree.

Ethnobotany

The Wood has a relatively low density, is fine textured and a light yellow to white colour.  Propagation is through Seeds, which take up to 6 weeks to germinate.  These plants grow best in hot, dry areas.  They provide a light shade area and should be protected from frost when young.  The leaves and bark make this an attractive garden prospect.

References

Boon, R. 2010. Pooley’s Trees of eastern South Africa. Flora and Fauna Publications Trust, Durban.

Burrows, J.E., Burrows, S.M., Lotter, M.C. & Schmidt, E. 2018. Trees and Shrubs Mozambique.  Publishing Print Matters (Pty) Ltd.  Noordhoek, Cape Town.

Coates Palgrave, M. 2002. Keith Coates Palgrave Trees of Southern Africa, edn 3. Struik, Cape Town.

Lawrence, G. H. M, 1951. Taxonomy of Vascular Plants. The Macmillan Company, New York. Tenth Printing 1965.

Palmer, E. & Pitman, N. 1972. Trees of southern Africa. Balkema, Amsterdam, Cape Town.

Schmidt, S. Lotter, M. & McCleland, W. 2002. Trees and Shrubs of Mpumalanga and the Kruger National Park.

van Wyk, B. & van Wyk, P. 1997 Field guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Struik, Cape Town.

Victor, J.E. & van Wyk, A.E. 2005. Atalaya alata (Sim) H.M.L.Forbes. National Assessment: Red List of South African Plants version 2020.1. Accessed on 2022/09/12.

 

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantab/atalayaalata.htm.

http://posa.sanbi.org/flora/browse.php?src=SP

http://suntrees.co.za/atalaya-alata-lebombo-krantz-ash-lebombo-kransesseboom-2/

http://plants.jstor.org/search?filter=name&so=ps_group_by_genus_species+asc&Query=Atalaya+alata