Iroko

Iroko
Milicia excelsa, Uganda
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Moraceae
Tribe: Moreae
Genus: Milicia
Sim
Species

Milicia excelsa
Milicia regia

Iroko (Yoruba: Ìrókò) is a large hardwood tree from the west coast of tropical Africa that can live up to 500 years.[1] This is the common name for the genus Milicia, in which there are two recognized species, which are closely related: Milicia excelsa and Milicia regia.[2]

The genus name of Milicia is in honour of Milici (19th and 20th centuries), an administrator in Portuguese East Africa (in modern-day Mozambique) who supported the work of the author of the genus, Thomas Robertson Sim.[3] It was first described and published in Forest Fl. Port. E. Afr. on page 97 in 1909.[4]

The tree is known to the Yoruba as ìrókò, logo or loko and is believed to have healing properties.[5] Iroko is known to the Igbo people as ọjị wood.[6] It is one of the woods sometimes referred to as African teak,[7] although it is unrelated to the teak family. The wood colour is initially yellow but darkens to a richer copper brown over time.

Iroko tree
  1. ^ Amadi, Pete (1 September 2013). Conflicted Destiny: Chronicle of a Natural Born Warrior. FriesenPress. ISBN 9781460224274.
  2. ^ D.A. Ofori; M.D. Swaine; C. Leifert; J.R. Cobbinah; A.H. Price (December 2001), "Population genetic structure of Milicia species characterised by using RAPD and nucleotide sequencing L.", Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution, 48 (6): 637–647, doi:10.1023/A:1013805807957, S2CID 43985297
  3. ^ Burkhardt, Lotte (2018). "Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen - Erweiterte Edition. Index of Eponymic Plant Names - Extended Edition. Index de Noms éponymiques des Plantes - Édition augmentée". Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition [Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2018. ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5. S2CID 187926901. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Milicia Sim | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
  5. ^ Oduyoye, Modupe (29 September 2015). The Sons of the Gods and the Daughters of Men: An Afro-Asiatic Interpretation of Genesis 1-11. Wipf and Stock Publishers. ISBN 9781498235822.
  6. ^ Onunwa, Udobata R. (27 June 2010). A Handbook of African Religion and Culture. Dorrance Publishing. ISBN 9781434953964.
  7. ^ Stephen (14 June 2023). "Iroko Wood Is African Teak Lumber 2023". Retrieved 20 June 2023.