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Plant one of these and you will have sunbirds. The flowers come in tight terminal clusters of tubular blooms in a hot orange-scarlet, produced through spring and into summer, and they are shaped for a curved beak. Amethyst and Greater Double-collared Sunbirds work them relentlessly. Bees take what is left.
Set against dark, deeply veined, glossy leaves, the effect is striking for a plant this size. The fruit that follows is a hard brown berry topped with the dried remains of the calyx, which gives it the look of a miniature pomegranate. That is the entire basis for the name. It is not related to a pomegranate and it is not edible.
There is more history here than the size suggests. This is the only species in its genus and it grows nowhere outside southern Africa. It carries the name of William Burchell, the naturalist whose journey into the interior from 1811 produced one of the great early records of the region. The species name, bubalina, refers to the dried calyx's horn-like lobes, said to resemble a buffalo's horns.
The wood is unexpectedly hard, heavy and fine-grained for such a modest plant, and was worked into tool handles, spoons and small turned objects. Parts of the plant appear in traditional medicine, and it has long been used as a protective charm at homesteads.
Plant it in light shade or morning sun. It takes full sun in cooler coastal gardens but scorches in hot inland positions. Water it regularly, since it has limited drought tolerance and sulks in dry ground. Work compost in at planting and mulch well to keep the roots cool. Prune lightly after flowering to keep the growth dense. Use it in a small urban garden, a shaded courtyard or a large container, or as understorey beneath established trees, where it is one of the better indigenous options available. Not great as a windbreak, since it is far too small to do that job. Put it where you can see it from a window — the sunbirds it attracts are worth the view.
At our Heartland Forest Restoration Project in Sedgefield and the Garden Route Botanical Garden Forest Plot in George, Wild Pomegranate was planted as part of the understorey and forest-margin mix, its smaller size and shade tolerance make it well suited to filling the mid-layer beneath taller canopy species, rather than serving as a dominant tree itself. Its nectar-rich flowers also brought sunbirds and other pollinators into these sites early in the restoration process, helping re-establish the wildlife relationships a recovering forest depends on.
A Tree Card funds real tree planting in one of Greenpop's restoration projects. Browse our full range of designs, for any occasion, and find the right one for you.
