African mahogany

Afzelia africana, the African mahogany or doussie, is a large deciduous tree of the Fabaceae family, native to a broad belt across West, Central and East Africa. Mature specimens commonly reach 15 to 30 metres in height with a straight cylindrical trunk up to about 1.7 metres in diameter, supporting a broad, rounded crown of bright green pinnate leaves about 30 cm long with seven to seventeen pairs of elliptic to ovate leaflets. The bark is grey, becoming roughened and scaly with age. Showy white to greenish-white flowers, each marked with a distinctive red or pink stripe on one petal, are borne in upright terminal panicles. The fruit is a hard, woody, oblong pod that splits to reveal striking black shiny seeds attached to a bright orange aril. The tree occurs in dense evergreen forest, gallery forest, savanna woodland and the coastal forests of East Africa, and is widely planted for its valuable, decay-resistant timber.