Screw Pine

livingstonianus: named after the legendary Scottish explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873).

Small tree. Stem pale brown, supported by numerous stilt roots; stem and roots spiny. Young trees palm-like with a single terminal tuft of leaves, older trees shortly branched and pine-like with many terminal tufts. Leaves in 1-many terminal tufts of 3 spirally arranged ranks, long and linear strap-shaped, 1 m or more long, shiny bright green to dark olive-green, paler below; margin armed with backward-facing hooked prickles. Flowers unisexual; male flowers in branched, spikes, 15-20 cm long, creamy-white with conspicuous spathe-like bracts; female flowers greenish-cream in short compact spikes. Fruit small, fleshy in cone-like clusters up to 12 × 7cm.

Locally common

Worldwide: Mozambique and NE Zambia; probably also in D.R. Congo and Angola.