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Anacardiaceae FAMILY

Searsia lancea

Searsia lancea

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

The pollen is said to be allergenic[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
GrowthMedium

Searsia lancea is not very cold-tolerant, but is able to tolerate occasional temperatures falling to around -5 to -10°c when dormant so long as the branches have been fully ripened by a hot summer[2, 1]. Requires a sunny position[3]. Succeeds in poorly drained soils[2]. Established plants are drought resistant[2]. Rhus lancea is often cultivated as an ornamental in the southwestern United States, where it is not only well established (and generally valued) as a landscape tree, but has become naturalised, and could pose a threat to natural ecosystems, especially desert washes[1]. The tree can grow up to 80cm a year and is thus fairly fast growing[2]. The dark reddish brown bark has a sweet, spicy scent[1]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required.

Propagation

Seed - the ripe seed should be sown in trays using a good seedling medium and transplanted into bigger containers when the seedlings reach the two leaf stage[2]. Cuttings can be taken using young growth Layering. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Searsia+lancea>

Pollinators

Bees

References

  1. [1]New Trees — Grimshaw J.; Bayton R.; Wilks H. · Kew Publishing; London · 2009 · ISBN 1842461737 ↩︎Provides comprehensive botanical descriptions and horticultural commentary on over 800 tree species that have been introduced to cultivation in recent decades.
  2. [2]PlantZAfrica.com — http://www.plantzafrica.com ↩︎An excellent site giving detailed descriptions and uses of many S. African plants.
  3. [3]Desert Tropicals — http://www.desert-tropicals.com/ ↩︎The main focus of the site is succulent plants, but it also contains information on a wide range of other species. Usually at least one good photograph, plus basic information about the plant and its cultivation.
  4. [4]Flora Zambesiaca — http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html ↩︎An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants.
  5. [5]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
  6. [6]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.