Quiver tree

The Quiver trees are endemic to the southern highlands of Namibia and grow in desert or semi-desert. These trees were given their name in the 17th century when bushmen hunter/gatherers were seen to manufacture quivers for their arrows from the bark of the branches. The Quiver tree is in fact the genus, Aloe, called Aloe dictoma in Latin, so therefore the Aloe family is officially a plant not a tree.

A succulent usually 3-7m tall with a sturdy trunk 1m in diametre, it has a dense, roundish crown. The trunk is up to 1m in diametre at the base, tapering upwards. The bark is smooth and yellowish, splitting and peeling with age and the branches are spreading and the leaves held erect. Flower spikes of the quiver tree are yellow, up to 300mm long and are held above the leaves.

Birds, mammals and insects are attracted to the copious nectar and they can be grown from seed, but it requires dry conditions.

They are also known as Kokerboom in Afrikaans, and they produce a bright yellow flower in June/July, common in the southern Namib Desert and the Northern Cape of South Africa. The slow growing kokerbooms occur mainly on rocky plains or slopes, storing water in their succulent leaves and fibrous trunk and branches.