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Baku

Tieghemella heckelii

Also called Cherry Mahogany

Baku
Photo: ehoumanevans, CC BY 4.0

Tieghemella heckelii, known as baku or cherry mahogany, is a large tropical hardwood tree from West and Central Africa, grown mainly for timber rather than as an ornamental. It is a forest tree and is not practical to grow as a garden or houseplant.

Family
Sapotaceae (Sapot family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Full sun
Water
Needs consistent moisture in its native wet tropical forest climate, though no cultivation guidance is available in the sources.
Soil
Deep, moist, well-drained forest soils typical of its native range.
Temperature
Hot wet tropical conditions; not frost tolerant.
How easy
Hard
Native range
W. & WC. Trop. Africa
Climate
wet tropical

About

Tieghemella heckelii (also called baku or cherry mahogany) is a tree species of the genus Tieghemella in the plant family Sapotaceae. The species occurs in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone and is threatened by habitat loss and over exploitation. This timber tree species can grow up to 45 meters tall and 1.2 meters in diameter. One individual, the Big Tree of Oda, is 66.5 m (218 ft) tall and 396 cm (13 ft) in diameter and is believed to be the tallest tree in West Africa.

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tieghemella heckelii 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.

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