Cheer-up Tree… Kumulaha (combretum binderianum)

Derivation of the Name:Khulaha - to cheer up. Most cheered up tree. The tree is appreciated around the homestead since, it is believed to spread cheer in one’s home.

Natural habitat and distribution in Bungoma District: Habitat: Combretum-wooded grassland. Distribution: widely spread, may be dominant in woodland, left in cultivated land.

Description: Bark dark greyish-brown, fissured and scaly. Leaves opposite or verticillate, elliptic to ovate, glabrous or tomentose. Flowers white cream, sweet-scented, in axillary spikes, appearing in April before the new leaves shoot. Fruit 4-winged, reddish-brown.

Physical features: shape: small to medium sized tree up to 15 m in height, over to rounded. Foliage: semi-permeable, light shading, deciduous.

Biological features: Mulch: good mulch quality, leaves decompose rather slowly. Rooting system: very deep, a few spreading roots. Tree/Crop Association: the tree is associated with all types of crops. It is said to be non-competitive and to be one of the best indigenous trees for intercropping. Biomass Production: fair to slow-growing tree but high leafy biomass production.

Other Characteristics: drought resistant, termite resistant, tolerant to strong wind. Reproduction: seedlings.

Management: occasionally lopping and coppicing. the regrowth is rather slow.

Ecological benefit: soil conservation. Tree Products and use: timber, firewood, charcoal, posts for fencing, mulch, building material, bee-forage, fodder ( leaves and bark ), ox-yoke, music instrument.

Medicinal Application: Root: abdominal pain, diarrhoea and vomiting, malaria and endwasi. Leaf: bathing of sick persons. The resin is used against ring worm infection.

Cultural features: Candidates for circumcision support themselves with a stick of the tree.

Related species: KUMUKALUKHA - ( Combretum elgonense ): This species is very similar to Kumulaha but clearly distinguished by its bark. Anyhow, in recent “ Kenya Trees Shrubs and Lianas “ both species were referred to Combretum collinum.