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LAGOS SILK RUBBER OR IRE. 

 (Funtumia elastica.) 



Locality. — A new rubber-yielding plant suddenly came into 

 notice in the colony of Lagos in 1894. This proved to be a 

 handsome tree, locally known as Ire, Ireh, or Ereh. It belongs to 

 the same natural order as the Landolphias. The particulars 

 respecting it were gradually accumulated at Kew. It was at first 

 known as Kickxia africana, but is now more correctly named 

 Funtumia elastica. It is widely distributed in West Africa from 

 Sierra Leone to the delta of the Niger, the island of Fernando Po, 

 and the Gaboon. It is believed that rubber was first obtained 

 from it on the Gold Coast in 1883. (Agricultural News, 1902, p. 



185.) 



Mr. J. H. Hart states : Plants put out in Trinidad at one of the 

 trial sections at St. Clair in July, 1898, averaged in January, 1901, 

 thirteen and a half feet in height, with a stem circumference of 



seven inches Mr. Milieu of Tobago, who has been in the 



native forests of this plant, reports it as being a large forest tree. 

 .... The St. Clair trees even at their present early age of three 

 years, bleed freely, but are not yet of sufficient size to base any 

 reliable estimates as to yield or value. . . . The rubber keeps 

 well and appears to stand near to good Para in value. A point 

 which will recommend it to some is the fact that although it 

 certainly grows faster under shade, it can make good growth when 

 fully exposed to the sun. — {W. I. Bull., 1901, p. 108.) 



In Western Africa. — The following notes on the Silk Rubber of 

 Lagos are taken from an article by M. E. De Wildman published 

 in the Revue des Cultures Coloniales, and translated in the 

 Agricultural Bulletin of the Straits and Federated Malay States, 

 Vol. II., 4 April, 1903, p. 136. 



"The plant is specially cultivated at present in Western Africa 

 in the Congo Free State and in the Cameroons, and is, according 

 to the author, the best rubber plant to cultivate in these regions, 

 and this is so for several reasons ; it is easy to procure seed as 

 the plant is wild in this part of the world and one can be sure that 

 it will grow well as the soil and climate are naturally suitable for 

 it. The German Colonial reports show that Funtumias of the 

 same age as Castilloas are relatively more advanced, the 

 Funtumias give seed at the end of two years and a half, while the 

 Castilloa fruits only at the end of from three and a half to four 

 years. If one compares the latex of the two, at the same age, one 

 can see that it is much more concentrated, less watery and sticky 

 in Funtumia than in Castilloa, and that it can give a return more 

 quickly. Castilloa, according to M. Koschny can only be milked 

 when eight years old. As to the rubber itself, that of Funtumia 

 is as good or better than that of Castilloa. The results of 

 comparative researches with Funtumia and Castilloa in West 

 Africa are in favour of the former." 



" If at first the stem bifurcates forming a bush, either a shoot is 

 developed above the bifurcation, or one branch grows more 



