| | CITESwoodID: descriptions, illustrations, identification and information retrieval |
Nomenclature. Family: FABACEAE-CAESALPINIOIDEAE. Other trade relevant species: The protection provisions under CITES Appendix II only apply to African species (species important to the timber industry are printed in bold):. Further trade and local names: Doussié rouge (CM,FR); apa (NG); chamfuta (MZ); lingue (CI,FR); ovala (AO); azodau (CI);. Code according to DIN EN 13556: AFXX.
CITES(EU) status of protection. Listed in Annex II(B).
Similar timbers. Easily mistaken for wood of the asian species of the genus Afzelia and species of the genus Intsia .
Geographic distribution. Tropical Africa.
Growth rings, colour, grain, etc. Growth ring boundaries distinct (marked by fine marginal parenchyma bands, often only visible with a magnifying glass). Heartwood basically brown to red (fresh heartwood pale yellowish to light brown, darkening to reddish brown (copper brown in A. bipindensis)); with streaks (only A. pachyloba), or without streaks. Sapwood distinct from heartwood colour (yellowish grey). Odour indistinct or absent. Wood heavy and hard (0,74–0,80–0,93). Interlocked grain present.
Hardwood vs softwood. Vessels (pores) present (= hardwood).
Vessels (pores). Wood diffuse-porous. Vessels (pores) in multiples; commonly in short (2–3 vessels) radial rows. Vessels large (100–180–270 µm); very few to few. Tyloses absent. Other deposits in heartwood vessels (pores) present (very variable in colour: almost white, yellowish and pinkish grey).
Axial parenchyma. Axial parenchyma present; banded and not banded. Parenchyma bands exclusively marginal (or seemingly marginal); narrow. Other macroscopically visible types of axial parenchyma: aliform lozenge type and confluent. The axial parenchyma around the vessels is clearly visible on longitudinal surfaces as a lighter edge on both sides of the pore grooves.
Rays. Rays narrow. Large rays commonly less than 1 mm high.
Storied structure. Storied structure rarely present, or absent. Tiers irregular (if present); 3 per axial millimetre (if present).
Resin canals. Normal resin canals absent.
Physical and chemical tests. Heartwood fluorescent (for example for A. pachyloba), or not fluorescent (for example for A. bipindensis). Water extract not fluorescent; colour shade of water extract colourless to brown. Ethanol extract fluorescent (for example for A. pachyloba), or not fluorescent; colour shade of ethanol extract red. Froth test positive. Splinter burns to full ash; colour of ash bright white.
Additional information. • Transverse section + wood surface. Transverse section ca. 10x. Tangential surface, natural size. radial surface, natural size. • Comparison Afzelia vs Intsia. The genera Afzelia and Intsia are closely related and have an almost identical wood structure. A distinction between the wood of both genera by means of macroscopic features is usually not possible (including the non-protected Asiatic Afzelia species). However, the test of the leachable heartwood extractives s hows a clear result: With Intsia, the extractives are easily leachable, but not with Afzelia.
The interactive key allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, and geographical distribution.
Cite this publication as: ‘Richter, H.G., Gembruch, K., and Koch, G. 2014 onwards. CITESwoodID: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. In English, French, German, and Spanish. Version: 4th April 2023. www.delta-intkey.com’.
