Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true laurel and its closest relatives. This family comprises about 2850 known species in about 45 genera worldwide. They are dicotyledons, and occur mainly in warm temperate and tropical regions, especially Southeast Asia and South America. Many are aromatic evergreen trees or shrubs, but some, such as Sassafras, are deciduous, or include both deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs, especially in tropical and temperate climates. The genus Cassytha is unique in the Lauraceae in that its members are parasitic vines. Most laurels are highly poisonous.
The Eastern Guinean forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of West Africa.
Triplochiton scleroxylon is a tree of the genus Triplochiton of the family Malvaceae. The timber is known by the common names African whitewood, abachi, obeche, wawa, ayous and sambawawa. The tree is the official state tree of Ekiti State, Nigeria.
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.
Nesogordonia is a genus of flowering plants. It ranges across tropical Africa, Madagascar, and the Comoro Islands. The majority of species are endemic to Madagascar.
Peters's dwarf epauletted fruit bat is a species of megabat in the family Pteropodidae. It is found in Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and moist savanna.
Antrocaryon micraster is a species of flowering plant in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. It is native to tropical Africa, where it occurs in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. It grows in gaps in the forest canopy. It is harvested for its wood.
Breviea is a genus of plant in the family Sapotaceae described in 1935.
Khaya anthotheca, with the common name East African mahogany, is a large tree species in the Meliaceae family, native to tropical Africa.
Khaya senegalensis is a species of tree in the Meliaceae family that is native to Africa. Common names include African mahogany, dry zone mahogany, Gambia mahogany, khaya wood, Senegal mahogany, cailcedrat, acajou, djalla, and bois rouge.
Milicia excelsa is a tree species from the genus Milicia of the family Moraceae. Distributed across tropical Central Africa, it is one of two species yielding timber commonly known as ọjị, African teak, iroko, intule, kambala, moreira, mvule, odum and tule.
Rhabdophyllum arnoldianum, synonyms including Ouratea quintasii, is a species of plant in the family Ochnaceae. It is native to tropical Africa from Nigeria to South Sudan. It is a shrub or tree.
Pierreodendron kerstingii is a species of tree in the family Simaroubaceae. It is endemic to West Africa and found in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Benin. It is sometimes considered synonym of Pierreodendron africanum, which would then be a widespread species distributed south to Angola and east to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Alchornea cordifolia is a shrub or small tree distributed throughout tropical Africa, it can grow up to 8 metres tall. The plant is used in traditional African medicine. Common name is the Christmas bush.
African rosewood is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
Strombosia pustulata is a species of tree in the family Olacaceae. It is native to the rainforests of tropical West and Central Africa. Common names for this tree include itako in Nigeria, afina in Ghana, poé in Abé spoken in Côte d'Ivoire and mba esogo in Equatorial Guinea.
Gilbertiodendron dewevrei is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae, native to tropical rain forests in Central Africa. It is often the dominant tree species of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest. The timber is traded as limbali, and is used for construction, flooring and railway sleepers. It is also used for making boats, furniture, tool handles and joinery and for making charcoal.
Julbernardia seretii, commonly known as the Congo zebrawood, is a species of legume in the family Fabaceae. It is found in tropical West and Central Africa.
Parkia bicolor, the African locust-bean, is a species of flowering plant, a tree in the family Fabaceae. It is native to tropical West and Central Africa. Its natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forests, swampland, woodland and savannah.
Mansonia altissima is a species of tree native to western and Central Africa. It has the vernacular names of; African black walnut or African walnut.
