African Walnut - Nomenclature
  • Common Name: African Walnut     
  • Scientific Name: Lovoa trichilioides
  • Family: Meliaceae
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  • Local Names: Anamemila, Apopo, Sida, Bombulu, Mpengwa
  • Dialect Names: Akiouhia, Atsan, Bogüe, Howôtou, Ouatou, Séatou, Sratou
  • Other Names: Congowood, Dibetou, Tigerwood, Gabon Nut
African Walnut - Geography
  • Distribution: West Tropical Africa
  • Countries: Cameroon, Gabon, Congo
  • Habitat: Evergreen and deciduous forests, moist areas, preferring deep, humid soils
  • General: Large, discontinuous patches centered on the equatorial belt and between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, Tropical and Subtropical Moist Forests (TSMF) are characterized by low variability in annual temperature and high levels of rainfall (>200 centimeter annually). Forest composition is dominated by semi-evergreen and evergreen deciduous tree species.​
Local West Africa Tree Mythos: Every big tree has a spirit. Some trees house many spirits. Whether a tree is a spirit or is inhabited by a spirit is not an easy question. The people will say: The tree has a spirit, or: in the tree there is a spirit. The spirit has a voice which the careful listener can hear and even understand if he knows the language of the spirits. This voice has to be preserved carefully by the drum maker. The boat-maker too, wants to keep the spirit of the tree in the wood so that it will protect the boatman against drowning in the treacherous rivers, when the tree has become a boat. The appearance changes, the spirit remains. Together in a forest, the trees have a collective spirit, powerful enough to be revered as a god. In Honor of this majestic tree, Akashic Grove retains that spirit of the jungle in each of its unique pieces, offering the spirit a continued existence within this new form as your furniture centerpiece. 
African Walnut Tree - Characteristics 
  • Tree Size: 100-150 ft (30-46 m) tall
  • Trunk Diameter: 2-4 ft (.6-1.2 m)
  • Heartwood Color: Golden Yellow to Reddish Brown
  • Sapwood Color: Medium Yellow to Light Gray

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Raw Cut
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Sanded
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Sealed
​Color/Appearance: Heartwood is a golden yellow to reddish brown, sometimes with darker streaks and veins. Color tends to darken upon exposure and with age. Sapwood is a medium yellow to light gray,and is generally narrow: it can be up to 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide, and is clearly demarcated from heartwood; a narrow transition zone is sometimes present between heartwood and sapwood. African Walnut also displays a ribbon-stripe figuring on quartersawn surfaces, similar to Sapele. Comments: Although Lovoa trichilioides is commonly called “African Walnut,” it is not related to true walnuts in the Juglans genus, but is actually more closely related to Mahogany, being in the Meliaceae family, which contains both the Swietenia and Khaya genera, as well woods such as Spanish Cedar and Sapele.
Photo By: D. Louppe

A few examples of African Walnut products by Akashic Grove

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AG010
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AG026
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AG011
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AG010
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AG026
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AG027

Akashic Grove can also accommodate Live Edge CUSTOM orders to suit any size or application.
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