06/06/2026
Amarula (Sclerocarya birrea) is one of the few indigenous fruit trees where male and female flowers grow on separate trees.
This means that not every Amarula tree will produce fruits. Female trees bear the fruits, while male trees produce the pollen needed for fertilization. Without both present, there can be no harvest.
For years, the accepted scientific method of telling whether a tree is male or female has been simple: wait for it to flower. The challenge is that this can take several years, requiring patience from farmers, researchers, and conservationists.
But what if you did not have to wait?
We are beginning to observe characteristics that may allow us to distinguish male and female seedlings much earlier in their growth. While flowering remains the only reliable scientific confirmation, these observations could eventually help identify promising fruit-bearing trees long before maturity.
For a species with enormous potential for juice, jam, w**e, wildlife conservation, and dryland restoration, this could be an important development.
Amarula continues to surprise us. Even after generations of use across Africa, there is still much to learn about one of our most valuable indigenous fruit trees.
