Afzelia africana

Afzelia africana
Fruit and seed
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Afzelia
Species: A. africana
Binomial name
Afzelia africana
Sm.

Afzelia africana (also called Afzelia, Lenke, Lengue, or Doussi) is a tree species in the Fabaceae family. It occurs in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, and Uganda.

Mature trees grow between 10 and 20 meters in height. They are prized for their quality wood, their bark which has many medicinal uses, and their nitrogen-rich leaves which enrich the soil.

Afzelia africana was used in the Middle Ages for ship building.[1] It is one of the traditional djembe woods.[2] 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.[3]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Afzelia africana.

References

  1. Jackson, Robert (March–April 2012). "Sailing Through Time: Jewel of Muscat". Saudi Aramco World. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  2. Henning, Michi. "Djembe Woods: What You Need to Know". djembefola.com. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
  3. Jewel of Muscat timeline. Accessed 2013-01-13.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.