Makha Tree, Cambodia Beng Tree
Afzelia xylocarpa

Family: Fabaceae

What it is like

Afzelia xylocarpa - Makha Tree or Cambodia Beng Tree – is a large tropical deciduous tree that can grow to 30m. In very large specimens the trunk to grow to 2m in diameter. The tree has an attractive timber used for ornamental woodturning, pens, knife handles, carvings, and musical instruments. The seed and oil are edible and is medicinally for eye disease and toothaches relief. Cigarettes are made from the seed pulp. Leaves are high in nitrogen and help improve soil conditions.

Afzelia xylocarpa is a deciduous Tree growing to 20 m (65ft) by 12 m (39ft) at a medium rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 10 and is frost tender. It can fix Nitrogen. Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: neutral soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil.

Height (m): 20

Where it is found

Dense forest, and in transitional areas between evergreen and dry open dipterocarp forest. Found in mixed deciduous or dry evergreen forest on clayey or laterite soils at elevations from 100 - 600 metres.

Southeast Asia - Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam.

Conservation Status: Afzelia xylocarpa Status: Endangered

Countries/locations it is found in

How it is used

Food

Rating: 2

Edible Part: Leaves, Seeds, Oil. The fatty cotyledons of young seeds are eaten. An oil is obtained from the seeds.

Oil: Oil

Seed: includes nuts, cereals, peas and beans.

Medicine

Rating: 2

The plant is used medicinally for relieving toothaches and eye diseases. The bark is astringent. It is used in local medicine.

Astringent: Produces contraction in living tissue, reducing the flow of secretions and discharges of blood, mucus, diarrhoea etc.

Other

Rating: 4

Agroforestry Uses: The tree is grown in agroforestry systems, where they improve soil conditions through their nitrogen-fixing ability and leaf fall. Other Uses The seeds are used for carving. An adhesive is made from the seed pulp. The bark contains tannins. The heartwood is reddish-yellow, red to dirty red-brown, often with some streaks, and clearly demarcated from the grey-white sapwood. The texture is moderately fine to moderately coarse. The wood is heavy, hard, very durable (tests have shown a durability under exposure of about 10 years in tropical conditions). It is moderately difficult to work, but easy in comparison with other high-density woods; planed surfaces are often glossy; it takes a high finish. The attractive wood is highly valued for carpentry. The hard, dense, fine-grained and durable wood is highly valued, especially in Thailand. The wood is used in various ways, for round wood, building poles, sawn or hewn building timbers, for heavy and light construction, beams, flooring, wall panelling, shingles, engineering structures, bridges, railway sleepers, woodware, industrial and domestic woodware, tool handles, musical instruments, wood carvings, furniture, veneers, boats, vehicle bodies, wood based materials, plywood, fuel wood and charcoal. The wood burls are specially valued because they form beautiful figures when the wood is being cut. The wood is so valuable that it is sold by kilograms.

Adhesive: Glues.

Oil: Vegetable oils have many uses, as lubricants, lighting, soap and paint making, waterproofing etc. This does not include the edible oils unless they are also mentioned as having other uses.

Soil conditioner: Plants grown to improve the structure of the soil. See also Green manures.

Tannin: An astringent substance obtaied from plants, it is used medicinally, as a dye and mordant, stabilizer in pesticide etc.

Wood: A list of the trees and shrubs that are noted for having useful wood.

Coppice: A traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down.

Food Forest: Plants for Edible Forest Gardens and Food Forests.

Nitrogen Fixer: Plants that fix nitrogen in the soil

How it is grown

A plant of the moist tropics, where it is usually found at elevations from 100 - 650 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime annual temperatures are within the range 20 - 32°c, though it can tolerate 12 - 39°c. It does badly if temperatures fall below10°c. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 1,000 - 1,500mm, with a dry season of 5 - 6 months. Young plants prefer some shade, but become increasingly intolerant of shade as they grow older. Thrives on well-drained flats or on slopes with a deep, loamy soil, or sand on clayey or laterite soils with a neutral pH. The tree has good coppice potential. Seedpods remain on the tree for a long time before opening. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby.

Propagating it: Seed - the seedcoat is so hard that pre-treatment with boiling water may not be sufficient to break the dormancy. Furthermore, the large aril around the seed delays germination and must be removed. By using a sharp knife, it is possible to cut off the aril together with a small chip of the seedcoat but care must be taken not to damage the radicle. If the seed coat is not scarified while removing the aril, the seed should be nicked at the opposite end. After cutting, the seeds are soaked in water for 12 hours before sowing. Generally germination ability lasts 1 - 2 years when seeds are stored in low temperatures.

Best place to grow:

Habit: Tree

Hardiness: 10-12

Growth: Medium

Soil: Light (sandy), medium, heavy (clay)

Shade: No shade

Moisture: Moist

Things to keep in mind

Its other names

Local names

Synonyms

Afzelia cochinchinensis (Pierre) J.Léonard Afzelia siamica Craib. Pahudia cochinchinensis Pierre Pah