Cordia africana

Cordia africana or Sudan teak is a mid-sized, white-flowered, evergreen tree in the borage family (Boraginaceae), native to Africa.^[2] It produces edible fruit, and its wood is used for drums or other carpentry.

Cordia africana
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Boraginales
Family:	Boraginaceae
Genus:	Cordia
Species:	C. africana
Binomial name
Cordia africana Lam.
Synonyms
Cordia holstii Gürke ex Engl. Cordia abyssinica R.Br. ex A.Rich. Cordia abyssinica R. Br. Cordia unyorensis Stapf Gerascanthus africanus (Lam.) Borhidi Gerascanthus holstii (Gürke ex Engl.) M.Kuhlm. & Mattos

Uses

Cordia africana has been used in the manufacture of drums. The Akan Drum which is now in the British Museum was identified as being of African manufacture because it was found to be made from this tree.^[3] It is also sometime called Sudan Teak and has been used for flooring, high-quality furniture, window making, interior decking. The wood can be used to manufacture beehives which can be kept in this tree where the bees can live off the plentiful supply of nectar which comes from the flowers. In addition the tree supplies leaves for forage and an edible fruit.^[2][4]

In Ethiopia, where the tree is known in Amharic as wanza, the hearth of a fire-stick was traditionally made therefrom for lighting fires.