Afzelia xylocarpa (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Afzelia xylocarpa (Kurz) Craib

Protologue: Kew Bull.: 267 (1912).

Synonyms

• Pahudia xylocarpa Kurz (1876),
• Pahudia cochinchinensis Pierre (1899),
• Afzelia siamica Craib (1911).

Vernacular names

• Cambodia: beng (general)
• Laos: tê² kha¹, kha¹ (general)
• Thailand: makha-mong, makha-luang (general), makha-hua-kham (northern)
• Vietnam: cà te, gõ dỏ, gõ tò te (southern).

Distribution

Burma, Cambodia, Laos, southern Vietnam and Thailand.

Uses

The timber is used for various purposes and is very valuable in the region. The bark is used for tanning hides and skins. The fatty cotyledons of young seeds are edible.

Observations

• A small to medium-sized tree of up to 30 m tall, bole branchless for 6-9 m, with a diameter of over 100 cm.
• Leaves with 3-5 pairs of leaflets, leaflets 5-9 cm × 4-5 cm, rounded to emarginate at apex, glabrous.
• Fertile stamens 7-8, 3 cm long, style 2.0-2.5 cm long.
• Mature pod elliptical-oblong, 15-20 cm × 7-9 cm.

A. xylocarpa occurs in mixed deciduous or dry evergreen forest on clayey or laterite soil at 100-600 m altitude.

Selected sources

121, 159, 235, 421, 589, 590, 598, 626, 675.

Authors

M.S.M. Sosef (selection of species)

Main genus page

• Afzelia