Millettia
Millettia stuhlmannii
The Swahili name for this tree is mpangapanga and it is also called mnyamawezi in the Kilwa area. Beware that several other quite different species are known as mpangapanga, including the highly distinctive Euphorbia candelabrum, which resembles a cactus.
Millettia stuhlmannii is a very distinctive, quite common tree that has thin, papery white bark, over a tall, straight unbranched trunk. Older trees sometimes coppice, producing several stems from the ground (called suckers) in a clump near the original stem, and this species can also regenerate by sending up more distant suckers from the roots. Sometimes it forms pure patches of just this species (monospecific stands), but is more usually found with species such as Sterculia. At the start of the rains it produces prominent purple pea-like flowers (it is closely related to peas and this shape flower is characteristic of the sub-family). Its leaves emerge before the flowers. They are made up of an odd number of leaflets. In the dry season the tree is bare, apart from a few long, flat, tan seed pods from the previous growing season. These attain a length of over 30cm and contain large flattened seeds.
The dark brown durable timber is now being harvested from Kilwa District for export as a flooring material. Villagers use it as a live fence to mark their home compound, by planting a cut pole in the soil during the rainy season that grows roots and branches.
 M. stuhlmannii flowers
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 M. stuhlmannii immature pods
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 M. stuhlmannii log
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