Dombeya pulchra - Silver Snowball Seeds - Indigenous Flowering Tree Seeds - New

Dombeya is a flowering plant genus of around 250 species. Traditionally included in the family Sterculiaceae, it is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics. These plants are known by a number of vernacular names which sometimes, misleadingly, allude to the superficial similarity of flowering Dombeya to pears or hydrangeas, which are unrelated. They grow chiefly throughout Africa and Madagascar. The generic name Dombeya is in honour of Joseph Dombey, a French botanist and traveller in Peru and Chile (1742-1793).

Dombeya pulchra is a South African indigenous species commonly known as Silver Snowball or Silver Wild Pear grows into a 7m tall tree. It has large leaves with white hairs below and beautiful white flowers from summer to autumn. This is a very attractive shrub or small tree ideal for the wooded or semi-shaded areas of your garden.

The silver white pear occurs mainly on the northeastern Drakensberg from Swaziland, through Mphumalanga to the lower parts of Limpopo Province. It has a somewhat restricted distribution, as it grows on rocky hillsides or mountains at high altitudes, in wooded kloofs or in wooded areas along stream banks. It is best sown in spring.