Botanical Name: (Terminalia superba)
COMMON NAMES: generally known in the US as afara, korina, white limba, and black limba. It is all the same tree.
COLOR: There are three colors of limba. A "normal" tree has off-white sapwood and is sometimes yellowish or even pale brown and the heartwood is similarly colored and not clearly differentiated from the sapwood. These two types of limba and are virtually indistinguishable although sometimes the heartwood will be darker brown. The sapwood and heartwood of this version is white limba. The third limba, which is the somewhat more rare heartwood, has varying degrees of irregular black streaking,that can create some beautiful patterns. This is called "black limba". There is no such thing as a white or black limba tree. Black limba is about the same as mahogany in weight, hardness and texture. The pores are small enough that one can finish the wood without filling it. I like this wood and wouldn't hesitate to substitute it for mahogany.
This wood will often have wormholes in it that give it the nice streaking color.
