WEEPING BOER-BEAN / CRYING TREE - SCHOTIA BRACHYPETALA - 5 SEEDS

Common Names:            Weeping Boerbean (English)               Huilboerboon (Afrikaans)                 Mulubi (Venda)               Molope (Tswana)                         Umgxamu (Zulu)

Schotia brachypetala is a hardy, semi-deciduous, very decorative tree with interesting branching patterns. The bark is rough and grey. The beautiful foliage is bronze when it first flushes and goes through many different colors and textures in the different seasons.

From August to November it bears massed bunches of magnificent scarlet-red cup-like flowers filled with so much nectar that it drips out, hence the common name. The flowers attract all manner of birds. Some, like Sunbirds, will sip the nectar. The pods, that are initially bright-green with a dark margin, turn beautiful glossy brown.

The large seeds are edible after they have been roasted and have been used as a coffee substitute. The pods and seeds readily absorb fragrant oils and so are included in potpourri. It has many medicinal and traditional uses.

An excellent and ornamental garden subject for sun or semi-shade and a beautiful and shapely trees. Suitable for containers and bonsai.

Bark and root mixtures are used to strengthen the body and purify the blood, to treat nervous heart conditions and diarrhoea, as well as for facial saunas. The seeds are edible after roasting, and although low in fat and protein they have a high carbohydrate content.