The green wood hoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus) is a large, up to 44 cm (17 in) long tropical bird native to Africa.

In 1784 the English illustrator John Frederick Miller included a hand-coloured plate of the green wood hoopoe in his Icones animalium et plantarum.

[2] The green wood hoopoe is now one of five species placed in the genus Phoeniculus that was introduced in 1821 by the Polish zoologist Feliks Paweł Jarocki.

The green wood hoopoe is a cooperative breeder and common resident in the forests, woodlands and suburban gardens of most of sub-Saharan Africa.

[7] Widespread and common throughout its large range, the green wood hoopoe is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.