Tamarind is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is indigenous to tropical Africa and naturalized in Asia. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs to the family Fabaceae.
Teak is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. Tectona grandis has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicles) at the end of the branches. These flowers contain both types of reproductive organs. The large, papery leaves of teak trees are often hairy on the lower surface. Teak wood has a leather-like smell when it is freshly milled and is particularly valued for its durability and water resistance. The wood is used for boat building, exterior construction, veneer, furniture, carving, turnings, and various small projects.
Colophospermum mopane, commonly called mopane, mopani, balsam tree, butterfly tree, or turpentine tree, is a tree in the legume family (Fabaceae), that grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, 200 to 1,150 metres in elevation, in the far northern parts of Southern Africa. The tree only occurs in Africa and is the only species in genus Colophospermum. Its distinctive butterfly-shaped (bifoliate) leaf and thin seed pod make it easy to identify. In terms of human use it is, together with camel thorn and leadwood, one of the three regionally important firewood trees.
Millettia laurentii is a legume tree from Africa and is native to the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The species is listed as "endangered" in the IUCN Red List, principally due to the destruction of its habitat and over-exploitation for timber. Wenge, a dark coloured wood, is the product of Millettia laurentii. Other names sometimes used for wenge include faux ebony, dikela, mibotu, bokonge, and awong. The wood's distinctive colour is standardised as a "wenge" colour in many systems.
Millettia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It consists of about 169 species of shrubs, lianas or trees, which are native to tropical and subtropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, southern China, Malesia, and New Guinea. Typical habitats include tropical rain forest and seasonally-dry lowland and upland forest and forest margins, woodland, thicket, wooded grassland, and secondary vegetation.
Khaya anthotheca, with the common name East African mahogany, is a large tree species in the Meliaceae family, native to tropical Africa.
Burkea africana, the wild syringa, is a deciduous, medium-sized, spreading, flat-topped tree which grows in the woodlands and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa. It is the sole species in genus Burkea, which belongs to the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the family Fabaceae.
Dalbergia latifolia is a premier timber species, also known as the Indian rosewood. It is native to low-elevation tropical monsoon forests of south east India. Some common names in English include rosewood, Bombay blackwood, roseta rosewood, East Indian rosewood, reddish-brown rosewood, Indian palisandre, and Java palisandre. Its Indian common names are beete, and satisal or sitsal. The tree grows to 40 metres (130 ft) in height and is evergreen, but locally deciduous in drier subpopulations.
Haematoxylum brasiletto, or Mexican logwood, is a species of tropical hardwood tree in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is known in its native Mexico and Guatemala as "palo de brasil" or "palo de tinto". The timber is used to make bows for stringed instruments, the manufacture of dyes and in ethnobotany.
Senna siamea, also known as Siamese cassia, kassod tree, cassod tree and cassia tree, is a legume in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It is native to South and Southeast Asia, although its exact origin is unknown.
Albizia odoratissima, a member of the family Fabaceae, is a fast-growing, deciduous tree reaching 15 to 25 m in height, a diameter of 120–150 cm (47–59 in), and native to large parts of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and China. It is one of the top nitrogen-fixing trees.
Ceratotheca sesamoides is an annual flowering plant in the genus Ceratotheca. It is indigenous to Africa, and grows both as a wild and locally-cultivated species, and is colloquially referred to as false sesame owing to its marked similarities with common sesame. The plant is most commonly cultivated in the African savannah and other semi-arid areas on the continent, and is found across Africa in both tropical and sub-tropical latitudes, usually growing in sandier soils south of the Sahara. It can be identified by numerous hairs on the stem; its pinkish flowers, often showing brown and purple markings; and a sub-erect growth habit. The leaves and flowers are often consumed as a vegetable or used in sauces. The leaves are thought to have medicinal properties, while the seeds can be used to produce cooking oil. Despite its many uses and increasing domestication at a local level, the plant remains predominantly underused and undervalued.
Allanblackia oil is a vegetable oil that comes from the seeds of trees of the genus Allanblackia. This tree can be found in the wet tropical belt of Africa. Because of its unique blend of fatty acids, the oil from Allanblackia seeds has melting properties that make it excellent to use as structuring fat in food products, e.g. margarines.
The Moribane Forest Reserve which was proclaimed in 1957, is a natural forest in the buffer zone of the 640 km2 Chimanimani National Reserve, and is situated 24 km north of Dombé, in Sussundenga District of central Mozambique. The mid- to low-elevation tropical rain forest covers hilly country, from 400 to 550 metres in elevation, on the eastern verges of the largest southern African forest of this type, altogether 820 km2 in extent. It can be reached using public transport from Sussundenga.
Parkia filicoidea, or African locust bean, is a large, spreading flat-crowned tree to 30 metres tall, the bole of which may be narrowly buttressed to a height of about 3 metres, and up to 120 cm DBH. It occurs in wet evergreen or semi-deciduous forest, sometimes on forest fringes, riverbanks and lakes, termite mounds, at elevations up to 1000 metres from Côte d’Ivoire, east to Sudan and Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and south to Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Bark on trunk scaly or smooth, grey to yellow-brown, branchlets glabrous to puberulous.
Brachystegia eurycoma, a plant in the family Fabaceae, is a sizable species of tree found in southern Nigeria and western Cameroon. It has a spreading, flattened crown.
Brachystegia laurentii, a plant in the family Fabaceae, is a species of large tree found in western Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. It has a dense, umbrella-shaped crown. The wood is known as bomanga and has many uses in building and construction.
Guibourtia tessmannii is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae. It is a medium to large-sized tree and is native to Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The timber has an attractive appearance and has many uses, and the bark is used in traditional medicine.
Robinetin is an organic compound which belongs to flavones and has the molecular formula C15H10O7.
