African Yellowwood

African Yellowwood is a large conifer native to the highland forests of eastern and southern Africa, from Ethiopia south through Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe into South Africa. It is one of the tallest trees in southern African forests, with mature individuals reaching 30 meters or more and developing broad, spreading crowns and thick, buttressed trunks with age. The tree belongs to the podocarp family and produces fleshy, plum like seed coverings rather than true pine cones, an ancient conifer lineage that predates the flowering plants that now dominate many African forests. Its yellowish timber has long been prized in South Africa for furniture and flooring, and some individual trees in protected forests are estimated to be many centuries old.