Abstract: This study was conducted to develop a rapid and efficient method for the isolation of genomic DNA from the tropical woody tree, Terminalia catappa L. Fresh young leaves from 35 trees were sampled for the extraction of genomic DNA. The methodology employed excluded the use of liquid nitrogen and an ultracentrifuge with various modifications in the quantities and reagents used. The result of the extraction showed that genomic DNA of good quality and quantity with a spectrophotometric ratio of between 1.7-2.0 for the trees sampled. Result further showed that the extracted DNA on 1% agarose gel had high molecular weight bands following electrophoresis. Thus, we concluded that the modified protocol used for the extraction of genomic DNA in T. catappa which can be easily adapted to other crops produced DNA of good quality and quantity which can be used for PCR based studies.