Afzelia africana, the African mahogany, afzelia, lenke, lengue, apa, or doussi, is a Myrmecophyte tree species in the family Fabaceae.
Afzelia africana
Habit in Senegal, with foliage below
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It occurs in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, DRCongo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.[2] It is typically found in dense, evergreen forests, but may also be found in the savanna and the coastal forests of East Africa.[3]
Mature trees grow between 6 and 30 m in height. Produces white or greenish-white flowers with a red or pink stripe in panicles.[4] The flowers give way to dark brown or black shiny fruits containing poisonous black seeds attached to an edible orange aril.[5] The trunk diameter may reach 100–170 cm, sometimes more.[3] The leaves are bright green, about 30 cm long, with 7-17 pairs of elliptic or ovate leaflets.[5]
Afzelia africana was used in the Middle Ages for ship building.[6] It is one of the traditional djembe woods.[7] The building of a reconstructed 9th-century Arab merchantman, the Jewel of Muscat, required thirty-eight tons of Afzelia africana wood, which was supplied from Ghana. Curved trees were chosen for the ship's frames and timbers.[8] The trade name for the wood of this species is doussié; it is known for being resistant to decay and termites.[3]
The leaves are sometimes used as fodder for livestock.[2] The bark is often used for medicinal purposes in West Africa, and some groups regard the tree as "a refuge of invisible spirits".[9]
Media related to Afzelia africana at Wikimedia Commons
