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Entada burkei (Benth.) S.A.O’Donnell & G.P.Lewis

Fabaceae · Mozambique, Zimbabwe +2

English names not checked: Wikidata's common names were not read for this page.

Photographs not checked iNaturalist and GBIF media were skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not asked, or not answered, is not "none": nothing here claims there is none. Why the site says it this way.
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Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
0.8°C
Record low -3.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Jan at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
642mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–43DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to September (November to March at the habitat), read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Entada burkei (synonym Elephantorrhiza burkei), commonly known as the elephant root or sumach bean, is a deciduous shrub or small tree in the mimosoid clade of legumes. It is native to southern Africa, in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and the Northern Provinces of South Africa. It grows on rocky slopes or ridges, in either woodland, grassland or scrubland. The species is named after the botanist Joseph Burke.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Entada burkei", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (502 mm of 627 mm) falls in November to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 22.1 °C against a yearly mean of 18.6 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: May to September.

Rain

627 mm in the median year at the habitat, 502 mm of it November to March. Wettest month January at 117 mm, driest month July at 3 mm; 1 month under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 454 mm to 744 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 642 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 627 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 43 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 0.8 °C, the absolute minimum -3.9 °C, 85 frost nights in 44 years, 1.9 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 5.5 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 4.0 °C to 7.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 27.6 °C in January (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 0.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 47 to 56% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +68 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Entada burkei through the yearWarmest month January, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest month July, mean nightly low 5.5 °C; 627 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost36.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-3.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 25–43RH 47–56%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 116 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 26–3027 / 26–3026 / 25–2924 / 23–2622 / 20–2419 / 18–2119 / 18–2122 / 21–2426 / 24–2827 / 25–2927 / 25–2927 / 26–30
Night °C17 / 16–1917 / 16–1916 / 14–1813 / 11–159 / 8–116 / 5–86 / 4–78 / 6–1011 / 10–1314 / 12–1515 / 14–1716 / 15–18
Rain mm117 / 90–13896 / 70–11681 / 52–9933 / 25–4111 / 8–156 / 5–103 / 2–75 / 2–813 / 8–1954 / 33–7394 / 75–113114 / 75–134
DLI43 / 41–4340 / 39–4136 / 35–3732 / 31–3228 / 28–2925 / 25–2627 / 26–2832 / 31–3339 / 37–3942 / 39–4242 / 40–4243 / 41–44
RH %56 / 54–5956 / 54–5956 / 54–5954 / 53–5751 / 50–5450 / 49–5349 / 47–5248 / 46–5247 / 46–5251 / 49–5454 / 52–5756 / 54–58
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 116 grid cells holding the 199 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 2313:4165 (-25.675, 28.275). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 0.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 116 distinct grid cells holding 199 of the 199 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2313:4165 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -25.50_28.125, lapse-corrected +68 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1267 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.

This species has no GBIF key of its own. Its records are GBIF's under the key of the name Kew's World Checklist holds as this plant: 2933003 (Elephantorrhiza burkei Benth., 374 records). No name was matched to GBIF; the keys are read from Kew's synonymy. How.

NativeMozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Northern Provinces · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-24.848, 28.328 · in the densest population, 221 records (77% of those in range)
Kew's description“tuberous shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 287 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 199 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 109 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 24 km away. 88 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 2933003 (Elephantorrhiza burkei Benth.): Kew's file holds it as Elephantorrhiza burkei Benth. (synonym under Entada burkei (Benth.) S.A.O’Donnell & G.P.Lewis); 374 records, from GBIF's download.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 287 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Not checked. iNaturalist and GBIF media were skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not a statement that none exist.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Searsia leptodictya Searsia leptodictya Mountain karee Photo: CC0, author not statedAdenia glauca Adenia glauca Blueleaf Elephantfoot Photo: CC BY, Dave RichardsonOchna pulchra Ochna pulchra Bark Plane Photo: CC BY, Matthew FainmanCrystallopollen angustifolium Crystallopollen angustifolium Kalahari Vernonia Photo: CC BY, migsgreenworldLedebouria inquinata Ledebouria inquinata Wild African hyacinth Photo: CC0, author not statedStrychnos pungens Strychnos pungens Green Monkey Orange Photo: CC BY, Hildegard Klein

Other Entada 5 in the reference

Entada gigas Entada gigas Nicker bean Photo: CC BY, Nathaniel IsabellaEntada phaseoloides Entada phaseoloides St. Thomas bean Photo: CC BY, David Thompson Entada polystachia Fabaceae Entada rheedei Entada rheedei African dream herb Photo: CC0, author not statedEntada tonkinensis Entada tonkinensis Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好

Names & registers

Also known as Elephantorrhiza burkei; Elephantorrhiza elephantina var. burkei. (WCVP, RBG Kew)

IPNIPOWOWikidataWFOWikipedia

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
(Benth.) S.A.O’Donnell & G.P.Lewis
Native to
Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana +1
Wild records
287 in range · 109 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
Kew's names (WCVP) kew.names answeredas of 2026-06-04Kew's entry Entada burkei (Benth.) S.A.O’Donnell & G.P.Lewis (plant_name_id 3291200), read from Kew's names file
GBIF species record gbif.species not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21this species has no GBIF key of its own; its records are read under GBIF's keys for the names Kew's file holds as this plant, never by a name matched; GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 374 records of GBIF's key 2933003, Elephantorrhiza burkei Benth. (Kew's file holds it as Elephantorrhiza burkei Benth. (synonym under Entada burkei (Benth.) S.A.O’Donnell & G.P.Lewis)): the GBIF download; 2 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (2 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -25.50_28.125, lapse-corrected +68 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by Kew's IPNI identifier 77303568-1, POWO 77303568-1
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist taxon inat.taxon not asked
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild not asked
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media not askedGBIF's backbone holds no one accepted species of this name, and a name it holds only as another species' synonym is not taken for this one, so GBIF's records were not asked
Wikimedia Commons commons nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 12 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…