Comprehensive Description
provided by Smithsonian Contributions to Botany
Antiaris africana Engler
Standard trade name: Antiaris
Local names: Oro orgiovu (Nigeria), Kyenkyen (pronounced Chenchen—Ghana)
A large, deciduous tree of the drier types of forest, to 130 ft high; with gray bark, the slash exuding a watery latex which soon darkens to the color of milky tea; ripe fruits red or orange. Plants in the family Moraceae are recognized by the milky juice, the prominent stipules which leave a scar on falling, and the minute, unisexual flowers often arranged on variously shaped receptacles.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION.—The wood is light and medium soft with a recorded air-dry weight varying from 23 to 33 lb/ft3, the average being 27 lb/ft3. Green weight is about 42 lb/ft3. The general appearance of the timber is similar to obeche (Triplochiton scleroxylon); it is light yellow-brown in color with no clear distinction between sapwood and heartwood. The texture is medium to coarse, and the grain interlocked.
SEASONING.—Antiaris seasons fairly rapidly, but with a tendency to distort. British Forest Products Laboratory kiln schedule A is recommended (FPRL, 1956).
DURABILITY.—It is a perishable wood. Logs are susceptible to damage by ambrosia and longhorn beetles. Sapwood of lumber is also susceptible to powder-post beetles. It is permeable to preservatives.
WORKING QUALITIES.—Antiaris has similar working properties of obeche (Triplochiton scleroxylon). It finishes cleanly in most operations if sharp cutters are used. It nails and glues well, stains and polishes satisfactorily.
USES.—Used locally in Ghana for cutlass handles and boxes, doors, benches, and canoes. It has been used for plywood core. Suitable for furniture, interiors, and also for light joinery. Antiaris has a thick inner bark, which yields a strong and durable cloth, providing satisfactory wrapping material for baled rubber and other products.
XYLEM ANATOMY.—Growth rings present. Wood diffuse-porous. Vessels: solitary but with a few radial multiples of 2 to 4 pores; circular in outline; average diameter 168μm, range 125μm–200μm; average vessel element length 453μm, range 350μm–650μm; vessel wall thickness averages 3.75μm; perforation plates scalariform (?); vessel element end wall inclination very slightly oblique to transverse; intervascular pitting alternate, large pits. Imperforate tracheary elements: septate fiber tracheids; average length 1260μm, range 1038μm–1500μm. Vascular rays: heterogeneous, mainly multiseriate, generally 3 or 4 cells wide, varying considerably in height, 6 to 35 cells; biseriate and uniseriate rays also present; fusiform rays with numerous circular pits. Axial parenchyma: paratracheal, vasicentric, occasionally aliform, moderately abundant.
- bibliographic citation
- Ayensu, Edward S. and Bentum, Albert. 1974. "Commercial Timbers of West Africa." Smithsonian Contributions to Botany. 1-69. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.0081024X.14