Editing Hyphaene coriacea (section)

===Distribution:===
Of the ten or so species in the genus
''Hyphaene'' which are found in Africa,
coastal Arabia, western Madagascar and
southern India, it is ''[[Hyphaene coriacea]]''
Gaertn. (synonyms ''H. natalensis'' Kunze,
also erroneously known as ''H. crinata''
Gaertn.) which occurs southernmost. This
species has a scattered subtropical coastal
distribution in fairly hot and locally
relatively dry areas in KwaZulu-Natal,
southern Mozambique and some parts of the
Eastern Transvaal lowveld. Following
Dransfield (1986), it is the same species
(in synonymy with ''H. turbinata'' and
''H. pyrifera'') which extends much further into
tropical east Africa and Madagascar.
The habitat altitudes vary from sea-level
to a few hundred metres and rainfall is
between 750 and 1 200mm per annum,
falling mainly in summer. Stands of iLala
are seen south from Durban, plants becoming
quite abundant from Scottburgh to the
Province's southern border at the Umtamvuna River,
and north from Durban, especially in the sandy plains of
Maputaland where, in some areas, it is the
dominant component of the vegetation.
Other well-known plants in these
localities include the fever-tree,
''Acacia zanthophloea''; other ''Acacia spp''.;
the Marula, ''Sclerocarya birrea'' var. ''caffra'';
the giant ''Strelitzia nicholae'';
''Combretum molle''; ''Schotia brachypetala'';
''Strychnos'' and ''Maytenus'' species and
''Syzygium cordatum''. The wild date palm,
''Phoenix reclinata'' Jacq., is common in adjacent sites
with somewhat better water supplies, e.g
along stream beds. The abundance of the
two palm species leads to the name
palmveld being used to describe this
vegetation in Maputaland.
Figure 2. Dramatic costapalmate leaf of ''H. coriacea''.
Figure 3. The trunk of a tall, mature specimen
showing scars from leaf and inflorescence bases.