By Leon Nell

The name keurboom features prominently in this part of the Garden Route, and most people will have heard of Keurboomstrand and Keurbooms River near Plettenberg Bay.  Called keurboom in both English and Afrikaans, Virgilia oroboides is a medium-sized tree seldom reaching more than ten metres in height, and is regarded as one of the most beautiful indigenous forest trees. It occurs on forest edges and in river valleys throughout the Garden Route, is a fast grower, reaching maturity in as little as five years, and produces a profusion of beautiful pea-shaped flowers between August and January.  Old-timers and woodcutters believed the keur  was derived from the fact that it was a “select” tree, others thought that it actually prevented the spread of forest fires – that it was indeed a keer (to stop) tree. There may have been some method in their madness, for the keurboom does grow on forest margins where fires are unlikely to spread due to the high moisture content of the soil and vegetation.