Entandrophragma is a genus of eleven species of deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...

 tree

Tree

A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s in the mahogany family Meliaceae

Meliaceae

The Meliaceae, or the Mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs in the order Sapindales....

, restricted to tropical Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

. At least some of the species attain large sizes, reaching 40-50 m tall, exceptionally 60 m, and 2 m in trunk diameter. The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are pinnate, with 5-9 pairs of leaflets, each leaflet 8-10 cm long with an acuminate tip. The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s are produced in loose inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

s, each flower small, with five yellowish petals about 2 mm long, and ten stamens. The fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

 is a five-valved capsule

Capsule (fruit)

In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. A capsule is a structure composed of two or more carpels that in most cases is dehiscent, i.e. at maturity, it splits apart to release the seeds within. A few capsules are indehiscent, for example...

 containing numerous winged seed

Seed

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

s.

Selected species:

• Entandrophragma angolense - Tiama
• Entandrophragma candollei - Kosipo
• Entandrophragma cylindricum - Sapeli or Sapele
  Sapele
  Sapele , also known as Sapelli or Aboudikro, is a large tree, Entandrophragma cylindricum, up to 45 m high and native to tropical Africa. The leaves are deciduous in the dry season, alternately arranged, pinnate, with 5-9 pairs of leaflets, each leaflet about 10 cm long...
  
  
• Entandrophragma utile - Sipo
  SIPO
  SIPO or Sipo can refer to* Sipo Bohale, an Equatoguinean footballer* Sicherheitspolizei, the Security Police of Nazi Germany* State Intellectual Property Office, the patent office of the People's Republic of China, 中华人民共和国国家知识产权局...
  
  or Utile

Uses

The timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

 of a few species is well-known. These are traded under separate names and can be used more or less like mahogany

Mahogany

The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....

, with that of Entandrophragma cylindricum perhaps closest to a mahogany-type wood. The wood has a density of 660kg per cubic meter.

External links

Tiama Entandrophragma angolense

• Wood properties
• Wood anatomy

Kosipo Entandrophragma candollei

• Wood properties
• Wood anatomy

Sapeli Entandrophragma cylindricum

• Wood properties
• Wood anatomy

Sipo (Utile) Entandrophragma utile

• Wood properties
• Wood anatomy