Calodendrum capense (Cape chestnut)

From the highlands of Ethiopia, the distribution of Cape chestnut follows the mountains of East Africa to the lowlands of the Cape. It is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Calodendrum capense (Cape chestnut) in flower (Image: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic license)

Overview: A tree growing up to 7–20 m tall.

Leaves: Smooth and aromatic with scattered, translucent dots; about 14×8 cm and borne opposite each other on the stem.

Flowers: Pink and mauve flowers are produced in large, terminal sprays, often covering the whole canopy of the tree. Each flower has five spreading petals measuring up to 3.5×0.7 cm. The stamens (male, pollen-bearing parts) are as long as the petals.

Fruit: A round, warty capsule, splitting into five sections to release the ten black, angular seeds.

Cape chestnut has been assessed as Least Concern because it is widespread and can be locally common in drier upland forest as well as in forest margins and scrub in the south of its range.

The wood is hard and pale in colour. It is easily worked, bends well, and is used widely for furniture, flooring, tool handles and implements. The bark is widely used as an ingredient in cosmetics (some of which are used to dye the skin whitish), and the seed oil is used in soap-making. The seeds are readily eaten by birds and monkeys.

The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership aims to save plant life worldwide, focusing on plants under threat and those of most use in the future. Seeds are dried, packaged and stored at a sub-zero temperature in our seed bank vault.

A collection of Calodendrum capense seeds is held in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank based at Wakehurst in West Sussex.

See Kew’s Seed Information Database for further information on Cape chestnut seeds.

Cape chestnut is a popular ornamental in eastern and southern Africa and is easily grown from seed or cuttings. Young trees can grow a metre a year and transplant well.

Specimens of Cape chestnut wood and bark are held in Kew’s Economic Botany Collection in the Sir Joseph Banks Building, where they are available to researchers by appointment.

Search Kew’s science databases for more information on Calodendrum capense

PlantZAfrica – Calodendrum capense