African Wood Types: Species, Hardness and Legal Status

African wood types in the timber trade are mostly West and Central African rainforest hardwoods. Side hardness at 12% moisture is from the USDA Wood Handbook's Table 5-5b unless another source is named; descriptions are from the Handbook's chapter 2.

• Azobe (ekki), Lophira alata - 3,350 lbf. Dark red to chocolate or purple-brown with white deposits in the pores; about 1,120 kg per cubic metre; very durable; used for harbor work, heavy flooring and railroad ties.
• Bubinga, Guibourtia spp. - 2,690 lbf. Pink to vivid red or red-brown with purple streaks.
• Benge and ovangkol (ehie), Guibourtia - benge 1,750 lbf; brown with gray to near-black stripes.
• Opepe, Nauclea diderrichii - 1,630 lbf; widely distributed from Sierra Leone to the Congo region and Uganda, often in pure stands.
• Afrormosia (kokrodua), Pericopsis elata - 1,560 lbf; brownish yellow with darker streaks, used like teak; highly resistant to decay and termites.
• Sapele, Entandrophragma cylindricum - 1,510 lbf; reddish to purplish brown with narrow ribbon stripes when quartersawn; about 674 kg per cubic metre; mechanical properties generally above white oak.
• Iroko, Milicia excelsa and M. regia - 1,260 lbf; suggested as a teak substitute for color and durability; boats, marine work, flooring.
• Avodire - 1,080 lbf.
• African mahogany, Khaya spp. - 830 lbf; pale pink to dark reddish brown; moderately durable; furniture, boats, veneer.
• Limba (afara, korina, frake), Terminalia superba - 490 lbf; gray-white to creamy yellow brown, sometimes with near-black streaks (black limba); not decay resistant.
• Obeche (ayous, abachi), Triplochiton scleroxylon - 430 lbf; creamy white to pale yellow, about 385 kg per cubic metre.
• Okoume, Aucoumea klaineana - 380 lbf; salmon pink; used mainly for plywood.

Not in the USDA tables but common in the trade: wenge (Millettia laurentii, medium to dark brown with black streaks), zebrawood (Microberlinia brazzavillensis, cream with dark stripes), African padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii, reddish orange deepening to purple-brown) and pink ivory (Berchemia zeyheri), all described by Duffield Timber. YYW Timber, a timber exporter, lists wenge at 1,930 lbf, padauk at 1,970 and zebrano at 1,575, but these are a seller's figures rather than USDA test values.

Hardest. Among African species with USDA test values, azobe is the hardest at 3,350 lbf, followed by bubinga at 2,690 (Table 5-5b); for scale, white oak is 1,360. Wikipedia's article on African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) goes further and calls it the hardest known wood, though it is not in the USDA table.

Most expensive. Wikipedia says African blackwood is often cited as one of the most expensive woods in the world, along with sandalwood, pink ivory, agarwood and ebony. It grows in dry parts of Africa from Senegal to Eritrea and south to northeastern South Africa, needs 60 years or more to mature, and is used for clarinets, oboes and flutes. Duffield Timber calls pink ivory one of the rarest and most exotic woods, and YYW Timber describes figured bubinga veneer as reaching very high prices. None of these sources publish a dated price, so we do not quote one.

Trade names cross species lines, which is why identification matters when you buy:

• African mahogany is Khaya, not true mahogany (Swietenia). The USDA says it is used for the same purposes because of similar properties and looks, but it is rated moderately durable, below American mahogany.
• Sapele is often called sapele mahogany (Duffield Timber) but is another genus, Entandrophragma; so is utile (E. utile).
• Afrormosia and iroko are both sold as teak substitutes (USDA). Afrormosia resembles teak closely but lacks its oily feel.
• Kiaat, Pterocarpus angolensis of southern Africa, is also called African teak, wild teak and bloodwood for its red sap (Wikipedia), and is a different species from both.
• Obeche and ayous are the same tree, Triplochiton scleroxylon; so are limba, afara, korina and frake, Terminalia superba.

South Africa's own famous timbers are now mostly protected. Wikipedia notes that real yellowwood (Podocarpus latifolius) is the national tree of South Africa and is protected there; its hard wood was used for furniture and panelling, but little is cut now because of past over-exploitation. Stinkwood (Ocotea bullata), dark walnut-brown to nearly black and said to be as durable as teak, was prized for furniture but is now Endangered and no longer available commercially. Kiaat (Pterocarpus angolensis) is used for furniture and resists borers and termites, and is also protected in South Africa. Wikipedia's stinkwood article notes that pine plantations replaced felled native forest on Table Mountain. Pink ivory and African blackwood also grow in parts of South Africa.

Some African woods cannot be traded freely:

• Afrormosia (Pericopsis elata) is CITES Appendix II and IUCN Endangered; Wikipedia says it has disappeared from Ivory Coast and the largest remaining stocks are in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• All Dalbergia species, including African blackwood, are CITES Appendix II (Wikipedia).
• UK and EU buyers must meet timber regulations (UKTR and EUTR) that require due diligence tracing; Duffield Timber recommends FSC or PEFC certification.

Ask the seller for the botanical name, not just the trade name, and for the CITES permit where one applies.

WoodLens can compare a board or offcut against African species from a photo of the end grain and face. Our species pages cover sapele, wenge, mahogany and teak.

This page was drafted with AI help, and every figure was checked line by line against the sources listed.