Milicia is a small genus of two species of large tropical hardwood trees in the family Moraceae (order Rosales), native to the west coast of tropical Africa. The genus is widely known by the common name iroko — a Yoruba word — and the timber is sometimes marketed as African teak, though Milicia is unrelated to true teak. Trees are exceptionally long-lived, capable of surviving up to 500 years, and can grow into towering emergents in lowland and riverine forest.
Both species — Milicia excelsa and Milicia regia — are dioecious, bearing male and female flowers on separate trees. The heartwood is initially pale yellow, gradually deepening to a warm copper brown with age and exposure. The timber is renowned for its natural durability: it resists decay in outdoor conditions without regular oiling or varnishing, though it is notoriously difficult to work with hand tools because of its tendency to splinter and to blunt cutting edges rapidly.
The genus was first described by Thomas Robertson Sim and published in Forest Flora of Portuguese East Africa (1909). Beyond structural timber uses — boat-building, flooring, furniture, and outdoor joinery — iroko holds cultural significance across West Africa and has found a role in traditional percussion instruments, including the djembe and the Basque txalaparta. Milicia excelsa is assessed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, reflecting pressure from logging and habitat loss.
Etymology
The genus name Milicia honours Milici, a 19th–20th-century administrator in Portuguese East Africa (present-day Mozambique), who supported the botanical work of Thomas Robertson Sim, the author of the genus. The name was first validly published in Forest Flora of Portuguese East Africa in 1909.
Distribution
Milicia is native to tropical West and Central Africa, with its range extending along the west coast from Senegal south to Angola and east to Uganda and Tanzania. Milicia excelsa has the wider range; Milicia regia is more restricted to West Africa.
Cultural Uses
Iroko timber has been used across West Africa for centuries and carries names in many languages: ìrókò in Yoruba, ọjị in Igbo, odum in Akan, and kambala in Kikongo, among others. The wood is valued for furniture, flooring, boat-building, and outdoor gates. From the late 1990s it was adopted as a material for the txalaparta, a Basque percussion instrument, prized for its resonant sound. Iroko is also one of the traditional timbers used to carve djembe drums. The carved pews of the Our Lady of Peace Basilica in Yamoussoukro are made from iroko wood.
Conservation
Milicia excelsa is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, reflecting ongoing pressure from selective logging for its highly valued timber and from forest clearance across its range. Both species are dioecious, which can reduce reproductive success at low population densities, adding to conservation concern.
