Pompom Tree

Description

Dais cotinifolia, known as the pompom tree, is a small Southern African tree belonging to the Thymelaeaceae family. It occurs along the east coast northwards from the Eastern Cape, inland along the Drakensberg escarpment through KwaZulu-Natal and the Transvaal, with an isolated population in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. It flowers profusely during the summer months and produces a multitude of pink, sweet-scented, globular flowerheads about 10 cm across. Depending on the circumstances it can reach a height of up to 12m, although it rarely exceeds 6m in cultivation. Deciduous, bushy, with neat shape, its height and span only reaches 2-3m (in the UK). It can reach up to 4 metres in Australia. It has small ovate-oblong shaped and lustrous leaves. It is evergreen in mild climates and deciduous in cool climates. In spring, or in the summer, it bears scented star-shaped rose-lilac, or pink coloured flowers, in flattened clusters that are 8 cm wide across.