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Photo: JMK · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source ↗
Shepherd's Tree
Witgat · Boscia albitrunca
An evergreen that stays green through the dry season, giving valuable shade and fodder. Its pale trunk gives it the Afrikaans name witgat.
Log your Shepherd's Tree sighting — free →How to identify it
Dense, rounded evergreen crown of small grey-green leaves on a distinctive pale, whitish trunk. Often browsed by animals into a neat, hedge-like shape with a clear browse line. Found in drier northern and mopane areas.
Flowers & fruit
Late winter to spring (August to November)
Browsed by
Leaves and flowers browsed by giraffe, kudu, eland, impala and elephant; game rely on it heavily in drought.
Where to see it in Kruger
More common in the drier northern half of the park, in mopane woodland and on basalt and rocky ground.
Did you know
It has the deepest recorded roots of any tree — measured to 68 metres deep in the Kalahari — letting it reach water far underground.
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