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Khaya anthotheca
Also called Nyasaland mahogany, White Mahogany, Red Or White Mahogany, Red Mahogany
East African mahogany is a large forest tree that can reach 30 to 60 metres in its native tropical Africa, grown mainly for its timber. It is not a practical houseplant or garden plant; it needs a wet tropical climate and plenty of space.
Khaya anthotheca, with the common name East African mahogany, is a large tree species in the Meliaceae family, native to tropical Africa.
The name anthotheca was taken from the Greek word anthos, meaning flower, while theca refers to a capsule. It is known by a number of other common names, including Nyasaland, red or white mahogany. Oos-Afrikaanse mahonie is the Afrikaans name and acajou is its name in French.
It is widespread, occurring from Guinea Bissau east to Uganda and Tanzania, and south to Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It is fairly widely grown in plantations within its natural area of distribution, but also in South Africa, tropical Asia and tropical America. It is easily confused with other Khaya species like K. grandifoliola, K. senegalensis or K. ivorensis in the north of its natural range.
African Mahogany · African Mahogany · Senegal mahogany · African mahogany
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Khaya anthotheca 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.
