Deinbollia oblongifolia - dune
soap-berry iQinisa-masimu Article by Geoff Nichols
Walk through
any patch of coastal bush along the coastal belt of KwaZulu-Natal and the
Eastern Cape to around East London and you’ll find this medium sized shrub
of about 5 metres tall. It is a common garden " pioneer/volunteer" plant that
often arrives and looks in its early stages for all the world like a young
forest mahogany (Trichilia dregeana). The leaves are compound and the 5-8
pairs of leaflets have a paler green slightly matt appearance hence the confusion
with the forest mahogany, which in fact has a darker green compound leaf
that is fractionally more glossy.
The dune soap-berry is usually multi-stemmed and if it isn't then you should
nip out the terminal bud to force it to become multi-stemmed thus ensuring
more terminal clusters of flowers which are small and creamy coloured.
|
|
It is however the pale yellow 10mm diameter fruits
that make me want this plant in my garden, especially in the winter months
when all else is dry and dormant this plant has ripe fruit that provides a
welcome meal for the birds and monkeys. If you are feeling a little adventurous
then try the fruit the fleshy inner part is quite palatable to us humans!
This plant has another use that we often overlook; the leaves are the food
for the larvae of two species of butterfly of which only the former occurs
in the Durban area the forest queen (Euxanthe wakefieldi). The gold-banded
forester (Euphaedra neophron) is arguably South Africa's most handsome butterfly
and its caterpillars feed on the dune soap-berry and the jacket-plum (Pappea
capensis) however the gold-banded forester only occurs as far south as about
Mtunzini. The other butterfly that uses this plant as a larval food plant
is the black-and-orange playboy (Virachola dariaves) though the female lays
her eggs on the fruits and the caterpillars then eat the fruits. The other
butterflies that feed on this plant are the Charaxes. In this case however
it is the adult flying forms that feed on the sweet fermenting fruits.
During the early summer you can also find another dune special growing on
Deinbollia this is a parasitic plant Tapinanthus kraussianus - Krauss’s Mistletoe
or the more descriptive common name of Lighted Matches. This parasite has
flowers that are attractive to sunbirds and the fruits are relished by the
fruit eating birds of the dune bush like Sombre, Black-eyed and Yellow-bellied
Bulbuls, the Golden-rumped and Red-fronted Tinker Barbets are both great distributors
of this plant.
|
When you have
found a flowering plant of the Mistletoe, mark the plant and come back in
two or three months to collect the fleshy fruits. Pop out the inner sticky
bit that covers the seed proper, this sticky substance was rendered down in
the past to make bird lime.
Then stick the seed to a thin about 10mm branch
or twig of a Dune Soap-berry and wait for the Mistletoe seed to germinate,
about one in five seeds will attach themselves to the Deinbollia and there
you are a new mistletoe in your own garden.
All in all a very useful garden subject with value as a form plant in the
landscape as it is fairly columnar in shape and has distinct terminal heads
of leaves. Enjoys full sun but will survive in the shade but not flower
as well. I often use this plant in herbaceous or shrub borders to add a
little interest and I also plant it in groups so that you get the bulking
effect otherwise it can get lost amongst the other species especially while
it is still small. |
