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Milicia excelsa
Also called Iroko, Counterwood, Mvule, Rock Elm
African teak (Milicia excelsa) is a large deciduous forest tree native to tropical Africa, grown mainly for its durable timber rather than as an ornamental. It is not a practical garden or houseplant, and it needs space and a warm, seasonally dry climate.
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 (the other being Milicia regia) yielding timber commonly known as ọjị, African teak, iroko, intule, kambala, moreira, mvule, odum and tule. The tree has several medicinal applications and is considered sacred in parts of West Africa. It is currently listed as "near-threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
African teak is distributed across tropical West, East, and Central Africa. Its range extends from Guinea-Bissau in the west to Ethiopia and Mozambique in the east. It is found in Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is in wet savannah, rainforest, riverine and low-elevation evergreen forests. It can tolerate an annual rainfall of less than 70 cm (28 in) or six months of drought as long as there is a stream or a ground water source nearby. An introduced population of this species was discovered near Punalur in Kerala, India.
Milicia excelsa is one of two tree species (the other being Milicia regia) that yield timber commonly known as African teak.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Milicia excelsa 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.
