Burkea africana

Burkea africana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Burkea
Species: B. africana
Binomial name
Burkea africana
Hook.

The Wild syringa (Burkea africana) is a deciduous, medium-sized, spreading, flat-topped tree belonging to the family Caesalpiniaceae. The genus was named in honour of Joseph Burke, the botanist and collector.

Widespread in tropical Africa, it is found in Chad, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Zaire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa in the Transvaal.

Leaves are bipinnately compound, silvery-pubescent or glabrescent. Flowers are creamy-white, fragrant and in pendulous racemes of up to 300mm in length. The bark is toxic, rich in alkaloids and tannins and used for tanning leather. Pulverised bark is thrown into water to paralyse fish.

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.

The foliage is browsed by the larvae of two Saturniidae moths, Rohaniella pygmaea and Imbrasia forda.

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