Those of you who have visited Kruger Park will possibly have noticed a tree with a smooth greenish trunk.

It’s an Acacia xanthophloea and is commonly called a fever tree.

Where did that common name come from?

In its natural state it grows alongside water and the saying goes that travelers who camped under these trees would often end up with a fever and that’s how the trees got the name.

The explanation is that they were actually camping near water and mosquitoes breed in water, so the likelihood of contracting malaria from mosquito bites was higher than if they’d camped somewhere else.

So the tree got the blame.