White seringa

The White Seringa is a medium-large, (20m) deciduous tree, with leaves that turn bright yellow to red/red-brown in autumn. It has a wide-spreading, mostly fairly flat-topped, rather sparse crown and a long, straight, bare stem. Bark is pale grey in colour and it breaks up into small blocks which peel off when old. The flowers of the white seringa, are small and white, borne in sparse clusters, with male and female florets in the same inflorescence, and they appear with new leaves between October and December.

The fruits are small and oblong in shape with capsules that grow in clusters. They are hard, four-cornered, glabrous and brownish black in colour and ripen in April/May. The wood is fairly light and soft and is used to some extent in furniture making, but is not durable or insect proof. It has a few medicinal uses and is only used sparingly by game. The white seringa can be found in the north of Namibia in the portion of mountainous country encompassing southern Owamboland and the Kaokoveld in the far northwest.