{{Short description|Genus of legumes}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Afzelia africana MHNT.BOT.2004.0.227.jpg |image_caption = ''Afzelia africana'' fruit and seed - MHNT |display_parents = 2 |taxon = Afzelia |authority = Sm. (1798) |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = 12; see text |subdivision_ref = <ref name = powo>[https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:331326-2 ''Afzelia'' Sm.] ''Plants of the World Online''. Retrieved 21 June 2024.</ref> |synonyms = * ''Afrafzelia'' <small>Pierre (1899)</small> * ''Pahudia'' <small>Miq. (1855)</small> |synonyms_ref = <ref name = powo/> }}
'''''Afzelia''''' is a genus of plants in family Fabaceae. The thirteen species all are trees, native to tropical Africa or Asia.
The genus name of ''Afzelia'' is in honour of Adam Afzelius (1750–1837), a Swedish botanist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.3372/epolist2018 |title=Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen |trans-title=Index of Eponymic Plant Names |language=de |date=2018 |last1=Burkhardt |first1=Lotte |isbn=978-3-946292-26-5 }}{{pn|date=June 2024}}</ref>
==Evolutionary history== ''Afzelia'' is closely related to, and the sister taxon of ''Intsia''. Both ''Afzelia'' and ''Intsia'', along with ''Brodriguesia'' form the clade Afzelieae within the legume subfamily Detarioideae.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de la Estrella |first1=Manuel |last2=Forest |first2=Félix |last3=Klitgård |first3=Bente |last4=Lewis |first4=Gwilym P. |last5=Mackinder |first5=Barbara A. |last6=de Queiroz |first6=Luciano P. |last7=Wieringa |first7=Jan J. |last8=Bruneau |first8=Anne |title=A new phylogeny-based tribal classification of subfamily Detarioideae, an early branching clade of florally diverse tropical arborescent legumes |journal=Scientific Reports |date=2 May 2018 |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=6884 |doi=10.1038/s41598-018-24687-3 |pmid=29720687 |pmc=5932001 |bibcode=2018NatSR...8.6884D }}</ref>
The earliest definitive record of ''Afzelia'' in the fossil record is a well-preserved, compression fossil of a leaflet (with cuticle) from the late Oligocene (27.23 Ma) Guang River flora of northwestern Ethiopia (Amhara), named ''Afzelia afro-arabica''.<ref name="Pan Jacobs Herendeen 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Pan |first1=Aaron D. |last2=Jacobs |first2=Bonnie F. |last3=Herendeen |first3=Patrick S. |title=Detarieae ''sensu'' ''lato'' (Fabaceae) from the Late Oligocene (27.23 Ma) Guang River flora of north-western Ethiopia |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |date=May 2010 |volume=163 |issue=1 |pages=44–54 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.2010.01044.x }}</ref> Numerous other records, some which may represent ''Afzelia'' (or potentially, ''Intsia''), are known fossil wood occurrences from the Paleogene and Neogene of Africa and Asia and are included in the form genus, ''Pahudioxylon''.<ref name="Pan Jacobs Herendeen 2010"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Feng |first1=Xinxin |last2=Jin |first2=Jianhua |last3=Liao |first3=Wenbo |last4=Oskolski |first4=Alexei A. |title=Wood of Pahudioxylon (Fabaceae) from the Miocene of Jialai-Nanbao Basin, Hainan Island, South China |journal=International Journal of Plant Sciences |date=June 2015 |volume=176 |issue=5 |pages=486–498 |doi=10.1086/680554 |bibcode=2015IJPlS.176..486F }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Damblon |first1=F. |last2=Gerrienne |first2=Ph. |last3=D'Outrelepont |first3=H. |last4=Delvaux |first4=D. |last5=Beeckman |first5=H. |last6=Back |first6=S. |title=Identification of a fossil wood specimen in the Red Sandstone Group of southwestern Tanzania: Stratigraphical and tectonic implications |journal=Journal of African Earth Sciences |date=April 1998 |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=387–396 |doi=10.1016/S0899-5362(98)00022-0 |bibcode=1998JAfES..26..387D }}</ref>
==Species== 12 species are accepted.<ref name = powo/> *''Afzelia africana'' {{small|Sm. ex Pers.}} – western tropical Africa to Uganda *''Afzelia bella'' {{small|Harms}} – western and west-central tropical Africa *''Afzelia bipindensis'' {{small|Harms}} – Ivory Coast and Nigeria to Uganda and Angola *''Afzelia cambodensis'' {{small|Hance}} – Cambodia *''Afzelia javanica'' {{small|(Miq.) J.Léonard}} – Sumatra and Java *''Afzelia martabanica'' {{small|(Prain) J.Léonard}} – Myanmar *''Afzelia pachyloba'' {{small|Harms}} – Nigeria to Democratic Republic of the Congo *''Afzelia parviflora'' {{small|(Vahl) Hepper}} – West Africa (Liberia to Côte d'Ivoire) and Angola *''Afzelia peturei'' {{small|De Wild.}} – Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia *''Afzelia quanzensis'' {{small|Welw.}} – Somalia to Angola and South Africa *''Afzelia rhomboidea'' {{small|(Blanco) Fern.-Vill.}} – Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Philippines *''Afzelia xylocarpa'' {{small|(Kurz) Craib}} – Indo-China
==Uses== ''Afzelia'' species are used primarily for wood, though some species also have medicinal uses. The timber is most commonly traded under the collective name "doussie", as well as under name "afzelia." African species are sometimes traded as "African mahogany" or "pod mahogany", despite the genus being botanically unrelated to Meliaceae (mahogany.)<ref>{{Cite web |title=not found |url=https://cites.org/sites/default/files/documents/E-CoP19-Prop-51.pdf%5B%5D |access-date=June 10, 2024 |website=cites.org }}{{Dead link|date=September 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
The seeds are red and black and are used as beads.{{fact|date=June 2024}}
The wood is often used as the surface material for outdoor velodromes.{{fact|date=June 2024}}
The highly figured wood of the Asian species, ''Afzelia xylocarpa'', is sold as Afzelia xylay. The seeds and bark of this species are used as medicine.{{fact|date=June 2024}}
The dense and wavy wood of an ''Afzelia africana'' is used in ship-building.<ref>National Geographic TV, ''Arab Treasure Ship.'' Viewed 2013-01-13.{{better source|date=June 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20040618055341/http://www.ildis.org/LegumeWeb/6.00/names/npall/npall_21.shtml ILDIS world database of legumes] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20071028012918/http://tropix.cirad.fr/africa/doussie.pdf Doussie technological characteristics], Tropix program, CIRAD Agricultural Research for Development Countries *{{commonscat inline}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q311373}}
Category:Afzelia Category:Fabaceae genera Category:Paleotropical flora Category:Taxa named by James Edward Smith (botanist) Category:Wood