Dahoma

A christmas gift we got this year was a tree book.  It was an unexpected treasure, "Growth and cultivation of 85 indigenous trees" (alternatives to exotic species in Uganda)" by Quentin Meunier, Rudolphe Lemmens and Amelie Morin.  I'm thinking this is not a book you'll find on Amazon.

But it's great and super relevant for identifying our tree but also for one of Mark's hobbies (if he was an emotional man, i would even use the word "passions" but that might be a bit much for a stoic Lutheran chap) He decided awhile ago, he'd stop worrying about trees being cut down and get busy planting trees.  So, this book with very good photographs (of leaves, seeds, trunks, flowers, etc) and thorough written explanations is perfect for his goal of tree-planting--when and where he's given the chance.

So, our tree is called Piptadeniastrum africanum and the common names include Dahoma, Agboin, Dabema, Mpewere (Luganda) and Mugeye (Runyoro).

Botanical description: "a deciduous tree up to 50m in height or even higher, with feathery foliage and a flat topped layered crown... the trunk is often leaning or wavy, with low branches and large buttresses." So, true.

We found this book at the lodge that we went to pre-Christmas and the manager there was also knowledgeable... he said the tree could live up to 400 years or so and the wood when it does die would be very valuable because of how dense it is.  Due to the height of the tree and its slow growing, I'm figuring it is at least 100 years now but Lord, willing might be here our whole life time and the kids will come back when they are on some journey of life-discovery and still find the tree with its "leaning, wavy" trunk spreading its feathery foliage over the land.  And if its cut down, maybe one of them will follow their father's legacy and get busy planting some more of them.