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.[4] It was first described and published in Forest Fl. Port. E. Afr. on page 97 in 1909.[5]
The tree is known to the Yoruba as ìrókò, logo or loko and is believed to have healing properties.[6] Iroko is known to the Igbo people as ọjị wood.[7] It is one of the woods sometimes referred to as African teak,[8] although it is unrelated to the teak family. The wood colour is initially yellow but darkens to a richer copper brown over time.
^Blench, Roger (2006). Archaeology, language, and the African past. Altamira Press. ISBN9780759104655.