Khaya anthotheca

Khaya anthotheca (Welw.) C.DC. (Khaya nyasica Stapf ex Baker.f.)

Common names

Red mahogany (English); mululu, muwawa, mbawa (Bemba/Bisa/Kunda/Nyanja/Tumbuka).

The generic name ‘Khaya’ was famously applied to this tree by European taxonomists in the belief that it was the vernacular name of this species. In fact, ‘Kaya’ means ‘I don’t know’, the answer given when Swynnerton collected this species in Mozambique and asked his local informants what it was called.

General description and distinguishing characteristics

Large evergreen tree with rounded crown, dark grey leaves, bark is dark mottled grey, fairly smooth with a crinkly appearance, small inconspicuous flowers, white and scented, September to November, fruits are woody cylindrical and borne in long stalks, ripens in October and split to form a characteristic rosette with four or five vaLevees and sand deposits of major rivers.

Range and habitat

Valley riverine fringe woodland and thicket. Levees and sand deposits of major rivers.

Characteristic tree along watercourses in the valley. Elsewhere it occurs throughout Zambia except on the Kalahari sands of the west and south.