brachystegia

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of trees of the family Cæsalpiniaceæ, with even-pinnate leaves and terminal racemes, or raceme-like panicles of small flowers. These have no calyx and only rudimentary petals. The stamens and pistil are covered in the bud by a pair of bracts. There are about 12 species, natives of tropical Africa. Several of them have tough fibrous inner bark, which is used by the natives for making bark-cloth. The most important are Brachystegia spicæformis of the Zanzibar coast and B. appendiculata of southeast Africa.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. small genus of tropical African timber trees having pale golden heartwood uniformly striped with dark brown or black: