3504.000 Brachystegia Benth.

Trees, mostly c. 10−20 m, but often with dwarf forms over shallow soils, plus a small number of suffrutices, rare in Zambia; bark mostly rough, smooth in a few species; leaves paripinnate, leaflets in 2-numerous pairs; though variable within species, the leaves provide the most reliable features for identifying the species; flowers in spikes or panicles, mostly terminal and axillary, occasionally on second year wood; sepals much reduced, petals rudimentary or absent; ovary pubescent but pod always glabrous; pod woody, oblong to obovate, with flanges along the top (ventral) suture.

Comment: In this account of Brachystegia we have not followed in full Chikuni’s treatment of the genus in Brummitt et al. (2007) and specifically, we have:

(a) restored glaucescens and microphylla as valid species;

(b) reverted torrei from a subspecies to a full species;

(c) treated the glaucescens/spiciformis hybrids and the spiciformis/microphylla hybrids as separate entities (pending further research).

Worldwide: 30 species in tropical Africa, 13 species in the Flora Zambesiaca region, 13 species in Zambia.

Zimbabwe: 3 cultivated taxa.