Entandrophragma caudatum is a large deciduous tree from southern Africa, reaching about 20 m, usually found in river valleys and open woodland. It is a timber tree rather than a garden or houseplant, so care notes apply mainly to young trees or specimens grown in warm, frost-free climates.
Family
Meliaceae (Meli family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Water regularly when young and during the growing season, then reduce as the tree establishes; it tolerates seasonal dryness.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile soil; tolerates rocky or sandy ground.
Temperature
18–35 °C; protect below 5 °C
How easy
Moderate
Native range
S. Trop. & S. Africa
Climate
seasonally dry tropical
About
Entandrophragma caudatum, or mountain mahogany, is a large Southern African tree belonging to the mahogany family and found in eastern and north eastern South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, Angola, the Caprivi Strip region of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. Kew currently recognises 12 other species of Entandrophragma, all with a tropical and sub-tropical African distribution.
This is a large deciduous tree up to 20m in height, found at low altitudes in river valleys, but also in open woodland on rocky slopes and ridges. Bark is grey, flaking in large, irregular scales and revealing a buff surface, giving a mottled appearance. The leaves up to 25 cm long, puberulous, crowded near the ends of branches, paripinnately compound with 6 or 7 pairs of leaflets, each leaflet measuring up to 11 x 3.5 cm. The leaflets are hairless with a narrowly attenuate apex or drip tip, and entire margin.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Entandrophragma caudatum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.