Burkea africana flowers

The flowers of Burkea africana, the wildesering in Afrikaans, are creamy white, about 5 mm in diameter. They grow in pendulous spikes in spring, often before the new season’s leaves of the deciduous tree appear.

The fruit is a thin, brown and flat pod. It sometimes remains on the tree in clusters after the leaves have fallen. In fact, some of last year’s fruit pods can still be seen among the new leaf and flower growth in the photo.

Small branches may present tortuous shapes. The bark is toxic, traditionally put into water to paralyse (and thus catch) fish (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Wikipedia).