African Wildlife & Environment Issue 79

GARDENING FOR BIODIVERSITY

The Tree Fuchsia

One of the best plants to attract nectar-eaters to the garden, the Tree Fuchsia Halleria lucida , is also much frequented by fruit- and insect-eaters. Its orange to dark red, nectar-filled, tubular flowers hang on short stalks and are seen mainly in dense bunches on the trunk and old, woody branches. They are so full of nectar that Zulu speaking people refer to them as 'birds’ beer'. Many insects and birds, such as sunbirds, white-eyes and weavers, constantly visit the tree adding to the already beautiful spectacle provided by the masses of flowers. In nature, red, pink and bright orange flowers are mostly pollinated by birds which, other than At the end of the first article in this series we promised to feature some plants that will attract a variety of wildlife with different feeding requirements. We begin with one of our favorites, simply because it is such a multi-purpose tree.

Charles and Julia Botha

being very sensitive to red, have colour vision somewhat similar to that of humans. Indigenous tubular flowers, such as those of H. lucida , are generally designed to be pollinated by sunbirds with long curved beaks, and a variety of these can often be seen hard at work at a flowering H. lucida doing just that! Other birds with shorter beaks 'cheat', piercing the flower near the base to get to the nectar without taking or leaving any pollen. Once the flowers disappear, they are replaced by lots of fleshy berries, which start off green and then turn red before becoming purplish- black when ripe. Now it is the turn of the fruit- eaters, of which a wide variety can be expected,

In full flower, Halleria lucida makes a superb display

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