The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Burkea africana
Also called Red Seringa, Rhodesian Ash, False Ash, Mukarati, Rhodesian Seringa, Seringa Tree, Syringa Tree
Burkea africana, the wild seringa, is a medium-sized deciduous savanna tree from sub-Saharan Africa, grown mainly for shade, timber and as an ornamental in dry, open landscapes. It is the sole species in its genus.
Burkea africana, the wild syringa (Bambara: siri), is a deciduous, medium-sized, spreading, flat-topped tree which grows in the woodlands and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa. It is the sole species in genus Burkea, which belongs to the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the family Fabaceae.
The genus was named in honour of Joseph Burke, the botanist and collector.
Burkea africana is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal to Sudan and South Africa. It is found in Chad, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Zaire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa in the Transvaal region.
If cut from the heartwood, it produces durable, insect-resistant timber with a moderately fine, wavy grain which is dark brown to reddish brown, and is used for parquet flooring and fine cabinet and furniture work.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Burkea africana by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
