I AM not sure who told me chameleons are attracted to river indigo (Indigofera jucunda).
I can’t find any references to this in my gardening books so I might be mistaken but I have plenty of these dainty little trees so I live in hope that the wildlife in my indigenous coastal garden might include a chameleon or two.
I have found all sorts of creatures in my garden but have to admit, no chameleons to date.
According to Jason Londt’s ‘Suburban Wildlife in KZN’ – a Wessa publication – the best way to search for them is with a torch at night when they turn pale and move right to the end of branches to keep away from predators.
But back to the river indigo and to Richard Boon’s book, ‘Pooley’s Trees of Eastern South Africa’ – published by Fauna and Flora Publications Trust. He describes the flowers as small, pink and white racemes that are fragrant and that grow in profusion, which is just what trees do. There are times when my river indigo is covered with sprays of the prettiest, daintiest pink flowers.
As this species belongs to the Fabaceae or pea family, if you look closely at the racemes you will notice that each tiny individual flower looks like miniature sweet pea.
When the blooms die off they are replaced by bunches of small, finely shaped reddish pods that are also eye-catching tree decorations. Some evenings these pods all suddenly decide to burst open together and it is amazing how noisy they can be. Even when not in flower, the dainty evergreen leaflets and slightly droopy branches make the river indigo a most attractive garden plant.
In their book, ‘Bring Nature back to your Garden’, another Fauna and Flora Trust publication – Charles and Julia Botha point out that the ancient dye, indigo, was made from indigofera species and that some rural people still use these plants to dye palm leaves blue for basket making.
The dainty river indigo are the perfect sized trees for a smaller garden but if you have the space a grove of them looks wonderful.
If you don’t think you have a spot for this take a look at the more remote corners of your garden. Unless you check for invasive alien plants on a regular basis and especially if you live on the coast, there is a good chance of you having a colony of rather difficult to spot invasive aliens inkberry trees (Cestrum laevigatum) lurking in a less visited area of your garden.
They come from Brazil and were introduced for ornamental use and hedging but have become a nuisance, particularly on the KwaZulu-Natal coast although they do move inland, too. The inkberry is an evergreen shrub or tree with shiny green leaves that are concentrated at the end of a branch. It sports clusters of small, pale yellow tubular flowers and slightly oval green to purple fruit. It is extremely poisonous and can result in heavy stock loss.
A Cara category 1 invasive, it must be removed.
Give these uninvited invasive aliens the boot and replace them with a grove of river indigo trees, perhaps planting the smaller, white-flowered forest indigo bushes (Indigofera natalensis) at their feet. Bees and wasps will love these plants – and you might well find a chameleon or two taking up residence in your garden.
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