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Dombeya rotundifolia, the dikbas or South African wild pear, is a small deciduous tree from southern to tropical eastern Africa, valued for its profuse, sweet-scented spring flowers and drought and frost tolerance.
Dombeya rotundifolia, the dikbas or "South African wild pear" (it is not related to pear trees), is a species of small deciduous tree with dark grey to blackish deeply fissured bark, found in Southern Africa and northwards to central and eastern tropical Africa. Formerly placed in the Sterculiaceae, that artificial group has now been abandoned by most authors and the plants are part of an enlarged Malvaceae.
The species was first described as Xeropetalum rotundifolium by Christian Ferdinand Friedrich Hochstetter in 1844. In 1851 Jules Émile Planchon placed the species in genus Dombeya as D. rotundifolia.
It is drought and frost tolerant; it is popular with beekeepers due to its high nectar production that attracts a multitude of bees and butterflies. Its flowers in showy profuse displays make it a highly valued ornamental tree. It produces a good timber with a greyish-blue heartwood and suitable for woodworking. Freshly-cut timber has a strong aroma of fishmeal.
This species is host to the scale insect Lecanodiaspis tarsalis Newstead, 1917. Caterpillars of Anaphe reticulata feed on the foliage during late summer and early winter, and may denude the trees.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Dombeya rotundifolia 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.
