Sapele

A forest giant of the northern Congo – its red-brown timber earns the country more than any other in its forestry sector.

One of the tallest trees of the African equatorial forest, growing to 45–60 m, with a straight, cylindrical trunk free of branches for several dozen metres. It belongs to the mahogany family (Meliaceae). The red-brown wood with its striped figure is durable and decorative, valued for furniture, parquet, doors and veneers. The fruits are woody capsules containing winged seeds, and the trees live for several hundred years.

Significance in the country

Sapele is the Congo’s most important export species; the large concessions in Sangha and Likouala, including those around Pokola, were among the first in Central Africa to be FSC-certified.

Where it grows

Mainly the forests of the northern Congo – the departments of Sangha, Likouala and Cuvette-Ouest (around Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park), and in the south the Chaillu massif in Niari and Lékoumou.

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