''Baikiaea plurijuga'', known as African teak, Mukusi, Rhodesian teak, Zambian teak or Zambesi redwood, is a species of

Afrotropical The Afrotropical realm is one of Earth's eight biogeographic realms. It includes Africa south of the Sahara Desert, the majority of the Arabian Peninsula, the island of Madagascar, southern Iran and extreme southwestern Pakistan, and the island ...

tree from the

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock fo ...

family, the Fabaceae from southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Description

''Baikiaea plurijuga'' is a medium-sized

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

tree with pinnate leaves each with 4-5 pairs of opposed leaflets. They show pink to deep mauve flowers have yellow stamens and are clustered in large axillary racemes; it flowers from November to April. The fruit are flattened, woody pods with a hooked tip which splits explosively sending the seeds out over some distance.

Habitat

''Baikiaea plurijuga'' is confined to the

Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coa ...

sands and the woodland which it dominates is known as Gusu woodland. This woodland grows on the deep, aeolian and fluvial Kalahari Sands which have virtually no clay or silt. These sands provide exceptional growing conditions for deep-rooting trees, but the deficiency in clay restricts tree growth to sites holding nutrients in the form of organic matter.

Distribution

''Baikiaea plurijuga'' occurs in southern

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

, northern

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

, northern

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

, southern

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are ...

and northern

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

Uses

The wood of ''Baikiaea plurijuga'' forms a dense hardwood which makes it a difficult wood to work, but it is valued for its

termite Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes ( eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blat ...

resistance and resistance to rot, is used for railway sleepers, in construction and for furniture making. Extensive teak forests in some parts of its range (e.g. in

Sesheke District Sesheke District is a district of Zambia, located in Western Province. The capital lies at Sesheke. As of the 2000 Zambian Census, the district had a population of 78,169 people. It contains Sioma Ngwezi National Park and contains part of the Za ...

, Zambia) have been over-exploited by the commercial timber industry. However, ''Baikiaea plurijuga'' is not listed in the CITES Appendices.

Conservation

''Baikiaea plurijuga'' is classified as Near Threatened because its forests have been and considerably reduced as a result of high levels of logging over the last half century. Older, mature trees are also scarce. However, the species geographic range has only diminished by a fraction as the species has the ability to regenerate readily in modified habitats and it tolerates

coppicing Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...

very well. It is legally protected in

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3846806 Detarioideae Flora of Southern Africa Trees of Southern Africa Near threatened flora of Africa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot