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.
Nauclea orientalis
Also called Leichhardt tree, Yellow cheesewood, Canary cheeswood, Cape York Leichardt, Burtree, Canary Cheesewood, Canary Wood
In Singapore: Bangkal, Leichhardt Tree, 乌檀 (Grown in Singapore)
1 NParks heritage tree in Singapore: Found in Singapore Botanic Gardens, EG14
A medium to tall tropical tree, up to about 30 m, grown ornamentally and valued for its timber. It does best in moist, wet-tropical conditions on well-drained alluvial soils near water.
Nauclea orientalis is a species of tree in the family Rubiaceae, native to Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Australia. It has many common names, including bur tree, canary wood, Leichhardt pine, yellow cheesewood and bangkal. It grows to a maximum of around 30 m (98 ft) in height and has large glossy leaves. It bears spherical clusters of fragrant flowers that develop into golf-ball-sized edible but bitter fruits. The yellowish-to-orange soft wood is also used for timber and in woodcarving and folk medicine.
Leichhardt trees usually grow near bodies of water, as they prefer alluvial soils. They can occur from shrublands of rheophytes, in areas often subjected to flooding, to rainforests where they flourish best. Leichhardt trees are pioneer species, settling areas leading to ecological succession. In Australia, they are usually associated in ecosystems including red gums and honey myrtles in drier habitats. In wetter areas they are associated with brush cherries, Moreton Bay chestnuts, and blush walnuts. They grow along with honey myrtles in swamps. In the Philippines, Leichhardt trees are usually found growing in secondary forests.
The tree is cultivated for ornamental purposes. The fruits of the tree are edible and are eaten by Indigenous Australians, though it is very bitter-tasting. They are also eaten by flying foxes and birds (like Cassowaries).
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Nauclea orientalis 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.
