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5 plants worth knowing

Togo

Togo is a narrow country stretching more than 500 km inland from the Gulf of Guinea. It lies in the so-called Dahomey Gap, where savanna reaches right down to the coast, separating the rainforests of West and Central Africa; moist forests grow only in the Togo Mountains in the west, around Kpalimé and Badou, while the north is taken up by dry savannas with shea trees and baobabs.

Hover over a plant to see on the map where it grows.

where it grows

  1. African baobab 1

    tree

    African baobab

    Adansonia digitata

    Baobabs define Togo’s landscape from coastal villages to the northern savannas – their leaves and fruit go into everyday cooking.
  2. Shea tree 2

    tree

    Shea tree

    Vitellaria paradoxa

    The shea tree is the treasure of northern Togo – women make butter from its nuts, and the country exports them to the food and cosmetics industries.
  3. Cacao 3

    crop

    Cacao

    Theobroma cacao

    Cocoa from the green hills around Kpalimé and Badou is Togo’s most valuable crop – the plantations grow in the shade of mountain forest.
  4. Robusta coffee 4

    crop

    Robusta coffee

    Coffea canephora

    Robusta from Togo’s mountains – alongside cocoa, the second “green currency” of the moist hills in the west of the country.
  5. Senegal mahogany 5

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    Senegal mahogany

    Khaya senegalensis

    Caïlcédrat – an evergreen African mahogany whose dense crown shades the avenues and market squares of Togo’s towns.