Blighia sapida, a Lesser-Used Species is being processed into sawn timber to meet the demand for wood. The knowledge of its wood quality would enhance its effective utilization. However, there is little information known on the physical properties of this species that could enhance its acceptability and optimum utilization. This, therefore, necessitate the need to investigate the physical properties of this wood species. Three standing trees of B. sapida were purposively felled for this study. Billets of 500 mm were obtained from the wood disc at the base, middle, and top of the tree. Each wood disc was partitioned into three; innerwood, middlewood, and outerwood following specified international standards for the physical properties test (wood colour, proportion of sapwood and heartwood, bark thickness, density, moisture content, and volumetric shrinkage). B. sapida wood density with a mean value of 709.78±8.88 kg/m3, ranged from (571.59±13.45 to 854.81±7.08 kg/m3. Moisture content percentage of average value 70.62±1.23%, ranged from 53.84±1.40 to 89.00±2.75%. Volumetric shrinkage of average value 15.24±0.25%, range from 13.38±0.66 to 16.89±0.83%. The range of B. sapida wood density value of the study falls within the range that could be categorized as medium density wood of medium construction strength properties. The 1:1.5% tangential–radial shrinkage observed in this study was low, an indicator of a low risk of deformation while seasoning the wood, as the ratios of tangential-radial shrinkage that is high are those over 2.2%.

Nigerian Anacarddiacea family was investigated in this study on the account of their inherent structures with a view to bringing to the fore those features that could facilitate identification towards proper utilization based on wood quality. Mature wood species of Lannea grandis, Lannea welwitchii, Mangifera indica, Nothospondis staudtia, Pseudospondias microcarpa, Sclerocarya burrea, Sorindeia trimeris, Spondias mangifera, Spondias mombin and Trichoscypha acuminate were got from the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria herbaratum, in Ibadan. Wood samples from the wood species were sectioned into cross sectional, tangential and radial sections of about 20µm thick using a Reichert sliding microtome. Photomicrographs were taken using a digital camera mounted on a Reichert light microscope at 40 ×. The results showed that vessels were large in all the wood species except in Lannea species, Sclerocarya burrea, Nothospondis staudtia and Trichoscypha acuminata. Body ray cells were procumbent with one row of upright and/or square marginal cells in all the wood species, but could be up to four rows in Sorindeia trimeris. Generally, septate fibres, silica,crystals and gum were observed in almost all the wood species, yet, fibre pits in Mangifera indica, Nothospondis staudtia, Pseudospondias microcarpa, Sclerocarya burrea, Spondias mombin, and L. grandis were not as bordered as they were in L. acida, L. welwitchii, Sorindeia trimeris, Spondias mangifera, and Trichoscypha acuminata. S..mombin and S. mangifera can be separated on this account. It also appears that rays were storied only in Sorindeia trimeris and L. grandis. In the aspect of wood utilization, some were expected to possess fine texture, lustrous patterns and also regions of failures as a result of high rays.