Kiggelaria africana ( Wild African Peach)

Kiggelaria Africana ( Wild African Peach)

 Kiggelaria Africana(also known as the wild peach or umKokoko) is a large, robust, low-branching African tree and is currently the only accepted species in the genus. 

Despite its common name, Kiggelaria africana is not related to the more familiar fruit-producing Peach  tree Prunus persica) although the leaves do look similar, if only very superficially. Unlike peach leaves, they are fairly thick and stiff, with a thin coating of fur on the undersides.

A well-shaped, robust, ever green with grey-green leaves. The smooth bark is pale grey in colour and the tree tends to be low-branching. The Wild Peach is dioecious (having separate male and female trees) and its tiny flowers are bell-shaped and a yellowish colour. The flowers are followed later in the summer by round, green capsules. These split open once ripe and the seeds, which are each covered in a layer of bright orange-red flesh, are eaten and spread by birds.

This tree grows across southern and eastern Africa - from Cape town in the south, northwards as far as Kenya. It occurs naturally in Afromontane forests  as well as by the coast, in bushveld and along rivers.