 Most of the expedition's botanising was by Zeyher, as Burke's interest lay primarily in mammals.Nevertheless, Burke did maintain a personal collection of plants, yielding many unrecorded species.Hooker named the monotypic African genus "Burkea" after him, while he was also commemorated in the species' names "Acacia burkei", "Elephantorrhiza burkei", "Hoodia burkei", and "Drosera burkeana".