the leadwood tree The Leadwood tree, Combretum Imberbe, is part
of the plant family Combretaceae, which has at least 250
species. While most of the species in the combretum family are
small to medium sized trees or shrubs, the Leadwood is one of
the largest trees in Africa, capable of attaining a height of 20
meters. In Latin the word combretum translates as a climbing
plant, and imberbe means lack of hair, so the scientific name
means a hairless climbing plant - not an impressive title for
such a magnificent tree. The common name, Leadwood, perfectly
describes the weight of the wood which is extremely dense and
heavy. When dry this wood weighs 200 kgs per cubic meter more
than water, making it one of the only woods which will sink, not
float, when dropped into water. The density of the wood also
makes it so resistant to wood boring insects such as termites,
that 80 years after a leadwood tree has died its imposing
skeleton will still remain standing intact. The Leadwood tree is
a very long-lived but slow-gro