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Tag: Birds

Hilsenbergia Petiolaris

(previously Bourreria petiolaris )
Family: Boraginaceae
KSW: mpanda-yongoo
GIR: Mbunduki

Family Boraginaceae

Self seeded shrub or small tree 0.3 to 7.7M

Visited by Tortricidae fruit feeding moths. Possibly larval host to Ethmia sp. Often visited by butterflies.

Kigelia Africana

Family: Bignoniaceae
KSW: Mwegea, Mvungwa
GIR: Muratina

Tree to 20M. Maroon trumpeted flowers. Fruits like giant sausages
Flowers attract. insects and birds. Monkeys and porcupine eat fruit. Monkeys eat flower nectar. Antelope eat fallen flowers. May be pollinated by fruit bats. Charaxes visit the tree.
Fruit is used for skin cream.

Locally available at nurseries.

Aloe Kilifiensis

Family: Asphodelaceae -Xanthorrhoeaceae
GIR: Kitozi

Grows in woodland around Kilifi

The plant is classified as ‘Endangered’ in the IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species

An evergreen, succulent, perennial plant producing a rosette of leaves. The plant often produces suckers and can form small clumps.

The plant is harvested from the wild for local medicinal use.

Attracts sunbirds

Hyphaene Compressa

Family: Araceae
ENG: Doum Palm
KWS: Mkoma, Mkoche

Branching palm to 18M

Fruit is eaten by baboons, monkeys and elephants.
Fruit is edible and the sap used for alcohol, leaves used for baskets and thatch. Turacos are often sitting in my palm.

Self seeded.

Butterflies & Moths
Bebearia cocalia – Spectre
Zophopetes dysmephila – Palm Tree Nighfighter

 

Rauvolfia Mombasiana

Family: Apocynaceae
KSW: Mti-sumu
GIR: Mumasia

A sparse evergreen tree up to 9m. The orange fruit is eaten by birds.

The bark is poisonous and used for rat poison. The root is used for medicine including treating malaria.

Moths
Selenisa affulgens

Available from Kivukoni Indigenous Tree Nursery

Lannea Schweinfurthii Var. Stuhlmanni

Family: Anacardiaceae

Gir: Mnyumbu

Ksw: Muyumbu-maji

Small to medium-sized, deciduous tree(7 to 9M) with its small, creamy white to yellow flowers and aromatic leaves.

Self seeded.

The fruit are edible.

The leaves of this tree are eaten by antelope. The fruits also attract many different bird species and monkeys. Bark used for making tea, rope, dye, a decoction against head and stomache ache, wood used for making stools and grain pestles and charcoal.

When in flower and in fruit my tree is visited all day by birds and monkeys and at night by bush babies.

Barleria Maritima I.Darbysh.

Family: Acanthaceae

Listed as a vulnerable species according to IUCN Red List criteria.

Spiny evergreen herb, with yellow/ orange flowers. Around one metre high. Could be used for hedging. Self seeded. Easily propagated from cuttings. Sun or part shade.

Pollinated by insects and attracts various species of butterflies. The insects attract insectivorous birds. Many butterfly caterpillars feed on Barleria (see Acanthaceae butterflies)

Possibly a larval foodplant to:

  • Junonia orithya – Eyed Pansy
  • Junonia natalica – Natal Pansy
  • Catacroptera cloanthe – Pirate