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Terminalia sericea
Combretaceae FAMILY

Terminalia sericea

Terminalia sericea

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

The tree might be poisonous[1]. The sawdust may cause inflammations of the respiratory organs and skin[2].

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree
Growth—

The plant can tolerate some frost[3]. Prefers a loamy, sandy soil[3]. Plants can grow on very poor soils that are generally not suitable for agriculture[2]. It is adaptable to drought and moderately adaptable to saline soils[3]. A fairly slow-growing tree[2]. Plants respond well to coppicing[2]. The plant forms dense thickets when cut or burnt, and becomes weedy, preventing the growth of grass[3]. This species hybridizes in the wild with Terminalia trichopoda[4]. Young stems and branches often parasitized and bear longish round galls often up to 2-3 cm in diameter frequently with leaves[3]. The flowers are powerfully and rather unpleasantly scented[3].

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Terminalia+sericea>

Pollinators

Flies

References

  1. [1]Indigenous multipurpose trees of Tanzania. — Hines. D.A. & Eckman. K. · 1993 · ISBN 0-9697075-0-9 ↩︎A simple handbook with information on over 50 species of trees found in Tanzania giving details of environmental requirements, cultivation needs, uses etc. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  2. [2]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.
  3. [3]World Agroforesty Centre — http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ ↩︎An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc.
  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]African Flowering Plants Database — Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. · http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php ↩︎Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
  6. [6]An Ethnobotanical Survey of Plants Used to Manage HIV/AIDS Opportunistic Infections in Katima Mulilo, Caprivi Region — Chinsembu K.C.; Hedimbi M. · Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine · 2010 · http://www.ethnobiomed.com/content/6/1/25/table/T1 ↩︎Medicinal herbs used in the treatment of AIDS-related health conditions. It can be downloaded in PDF format from the Internet.
  7. [7]Gemsbok Bean and Kalahari Truffle — Leffers A. · Gamsberg MacMillan; Namibia. · 2003 · ISBN 99916-0-491-X ↩︎Details of the traditional uses of over 200 species of plants in northeastern Namibia. Written for the non-expert, there is usually at least one photograph with each plant entry.