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African White Mahogany

Turraeanthus africanus

African White Mahogany
Photo: Collector(s): Amarh, Amponsah Identifier: Gabriel Ameka, Public domain

African white mahogany is a large rainforest timber tree of West and Central Africa, prized for its pale, figured wood (avodiré). It is not a typical garden or houseplant, and growing it requires warm, humid, tropical conditions.

Family
Meliaceae (Meli family)
Grows as
Tree
Light
Part shade, Bright indirect
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist during establishment, and water regularly in dry spells.
Soil
Well-drained, fertile, moist forest-type soil or rich potting mix.
Temperature
22–32 °C; protect below 15 °C
How easy
Hard
Native range
W. Trop. Africa to SW. Uganda and Angola
Climate
wet tropical

About

Turraeanthus africanus is a species of plant in the family Meliaceae, also known by the common names avodiré, apeya, engan, agbe, lusamba, wansenwa, African satinwood, and African white mahogany.

Uses

Avodire wood has long been valued in furniture for its naturally lustrous surface, which has led to the name African Satinwood. Commonly, the highly figured wood is used for veneers in panelling and marquetry.

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Turraeanthus africanus 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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