Tambootie
(Spirostachys africana)

Also called African Sandalwood, this is a very aromatic wood, hard and heavy and takes a high polish.

Family: Euphorbiaceae
Distribution: Mozambique and throughout the forests of eastern Africa.
Spellings:  tambuti, tamboti
The Tree: A small tree up to about 25 to 40 ft in height, with trunk diameters usually 4 to 6 in.

Wood Characteristics: Heartwood light yellowish brown when freshly cut, turning dark brown on exposure, and with further aging, to a dark reddish brown; sapwood whitish. Texture very fine and even; grain straight, sometimes wavy; dull to somewhat lustrous, with oily feel; heartwood with a strong fragrant scent that persists, without characteristic taste.  The heartwood is rated as extremely durable.





Deciduous and of medium height, the bark is characterisically rough and black. The milky latex can cause severe irritation to the skin and eyes. Furthermore, it is not used as a cooking fuel because it imparts unpleasant taints to the food. The heartwood is dark brown with darker longitudinal streaks that create beautiful markings.  It is a hard wood, lustrous and with a powerful, persistent, and pleasant sweet scent. This pleasant odor will last a long time after the wood is cut. A piece of furniture made of it can scent a large room for a long time.





Tamboti flowers in September and the pea sized seeds develop in three-lobed capsules which fall, when mature in November, to the leaf litter below. If you stand by a copse of Tamboti trees on a hot November day you may hear a distinctive rustling in the litter and if you look more closely you will see some flicking in the litter due to some seeds jumping intermittently. Collect some of these jumpers and place them on a plate in the hot sun and the jumping becomes more invigorated. Open one carefully and you will find a small larva whose body suddenly contorts causing the bean to jump.

These trees thrive happily in wet, swampy ground. Latex, which is found in the sapwood, is extremely toxic, and can be used for poison arrows. However, the same substance cures toothache, if dropped carefully into a sore tooth cavity.
 
It is a rare wood and highly sought for carvings and high grade furniture.  Tambootie wood is also used to keep insects away.