The leaves of Burkea africana are bipinnate, i.e. the pinnae of the composite leaf are themselves divided into smaller leaflets. The pinnae are opposite, the leaflets upon them alternate. Leaflets are elliptic in shape and large (12 mm to 55 mm by 7 mm to 3,6 mm). The leaflet apices are rounded and notched; their bases asymmetrically rounded.

Older leaves drop off, leaving only the later arrivals to be seen on the tree, crowded at the growth ends of the branchlets. The leaflet colour is grey-green or dark green. Young leaflets are covered in silvery hairs that drop off as they mature during their single growth season (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002).