Hardekool/Leadwood - Combretum imberbe

- Indigenous to South Africa.
- Leadwood trees are found in the northeastern parts of South Africa in the Northwest, Gauteng and Limpopo provinces and small parts of Mpumalanga. It’s located in the Savanna biome and in the Mopane-, Lowveld- and Central Bushveld bioregions.
- Game such as kudu, the red lechwe, impala, duiker, giraffe and elephant all feed on the leaves of the leadwood. The presence of leadwood in certain areas can indicate that grazing practices are good.
- Only the dead branches of the tree is used. It is very hard and tough and burns very slowly with intense heat. Other than extraordinary firewood, different parts of this tree have various uses and can be used as medicine by tribes for coughs and colds. If a tree is injured, an edible gum flows from the damaged area which forms part of the Bushmen’s diet. Because of the hardness of the wood, ancient people used it to make hoes that was utilised in soil preparation before metal was introduced. The trunk was used to build fences of enclosures to keep cattle in and it was also used as stamping tools to grind grain with. Nowadays it’s mostly used to make expensive robust furniture with, while the root bark is used as a resource in tanning leather.