Faurea saligna

Faurea saligna is a graceful, semi-deciduous tree in the family Proteaceae. It grows to about 10 metres (33 ft), or up to 20 metres (66 ft) under forest conditions. Found from tropical Africa south to the Transvaal, Swaziland and Natal, often in large communities on sandy soil and along stream beds. Its dark-grey to black bark is rough and deeply fissured, while the narrow drooping leaves are reminiscent of a willow (saligna meaning Salix-like). The timber was much-prized by the Voortrekkers for furniture and they named it Transvaal Boekenhout for the timber's resemblance to that of the European Beech. There are some 15 species of Faurea occurring in Africa and Madagascar. William Henry Harvey named the genus after William Caldwell Faure (1822-1844), a young soldier and enthusiastic botanist who was killed in India, and was the son of Cape Town Dutch Reformed minister Abraham Faure. Faure had accompanied Harvey on numerous botanising excursions, and had left the Cape for India in 1844......read more on Wikipedia.