Leadwood

Combretum imberbe

The Leadwood is an iconic tree of South Africa’s savanna regions, occurring from northern Kwazulu-Natal through the Lowveld and bushveld regions of Mpumalanga and Limpopo to northern Gauteng and the North West Province. These trees favour alluvial soils in lower-lying areas near rivers and streams.

Leadwoods are slow growing, may reach to over 20m in height with an equally wide-spread canopy and have exceptionally hard, heavy wood – a 1m³ block of dry wood from the Leadwood weighs more than 1,200kg! These trees are long-lived and mature Leadwoods may exceed 1,000 years in age. Even dead trunks may stand for another century, the hard wood being so resistant to rot and termites.