Isoberlinia tomentosa

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Common products:
- Sawn timber (boards, planks) from heartwood for structural uses.
- Charcoal produced from residues, used for domestic heating and metalworking.
- Fuelwood used in rural cooking and small‑scale power generation.

Industrial and craft applications:
- Structural timber for building frames, beams, rafters and roof trusses.
- Flooring and interior joinery; fine grain and brownish hue suitable for furniture.
- Utility poles, railway sleepers, tool handles where high density and durability are required.
- Small craft items such as wooden tools and handicraft pieces.

Wood and fiber:
- Timber logs processed by sawmills; high specific gravity (≈0.80–0.90 g cm⁻³) and fine interlocked grain.
- The wood’s cellulose content supports kraft‑pulp production for paper grades.

Colorants and tanning:
- Bark contains hydrolyzable tannins that are used locally for leather tanning, imparting brown coloration.
- Tannin extracts can serve as natural brown dyes for protein fibers (e.g., wool, silk).

Properties relevant to use:
- High density and hardness provide mechanical strength and resistance to abrasion.
- Natural extractives confer moderate durability against termites and fungal decay.
- Tannin content in bark offers oxidative stability for tanning processes.

Standards and regulation:
- Timber is graded according to national hardwood classification systems (e.g., Ghana Timber Grading Regulations), which specify moisture content, permissible defects, and size tolerances.
- Charcoal quality is assessed under ASTM D5865 for fixed carbon, volatile matter and ash.
- Tannin extracts intended for leather tanning are generally evaluated against industry guidelines that limit heavy‑metal concentrations.

Sustainability and sourcing:
- Natural range covers West African tropical forest; major populations in Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon.
- Harvesting is generally from natural forest; selective logging and reforestation are recommended for sustainability.
- The species is listed in national forest inventories and can be integrated into agroforestry systems; certification under schemes such as FSC is feasible where management plans exist.

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No distribution data was extracted from POWO/KEW yet. We are constantly monitoring for new data.

No reference genome is available on NCBI yet. We are constantly monitoring for new data.

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