The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Combretum imberbe
Also called Bastard Yellow Wood, Damara Mother Tree, Elephant Trunk, Elephant's Trunk, Ivory Tree, Leadwood Bushwillow
Leadwood is a slow-growing, medium to large savanna tree of southern Africa, known for its very hard, dense wood and long lifespan. It is rarely grown as a garden plant and suits only large, warm, dry landscapes.
Combretum imberbe (also known as leadwood or mhoba-hoba, Afrikaans: hardekool, Sotho: mohwelere-tšhipi, Tsonga: motswiri/mondzo, Zulu: impondondlovu) is a characteristic and often impressive bushwillow species of the southern Afrotropics. The medium to large tree has a sparse, semi-deciduous canopy of grey-green leaves. The twigs and leaves are hairless as the name imberbe suggests. Its heartwood is dark brown, close-grained, very hard and heavy, as suggested by its vernacular name "leadwood", and durable; it is much sought after in the woodcarving industry. The Hereros and Ovambos of Namibia attach special cultural and religious significance to the tree, as to them it is the great ancestor of all animals and people, which must be passed with respect.
It is native to the mesic savannas of Africa south of the equator, from KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, in the south to Tanzania in the north. It is a native tree in South Africa, eSwatini, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Zambia and Tanzania. It is a protected tree in South Africa.
The wood is dense and very hard, difficult to plane, but drills, sands and turns well. It is termite resistant. It was once used for railway sleepers and is now prized for ornamental work and furniture.
Combretum aculeatum · Powderpuff Combretum · Combretum fruticosum · Rangoon Creeper · Opium Antidote · Combretum obscurum · Combretum trifoliatum · Large-fruited bushwillow · Combretums
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Combretum imberbe by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
