199 
Prodr. iii. p. 299 (1828); G. Don Gen. Syst. iii. p. 4 (1834); 
Mig. Fl. Ind. Batay. i. pt. 1, p. 683 (1855) ; Cogn. in DC Monogr. 
iii. p. 927 (1881); Warb. in Engl. Jahrb. xii. p. 444 (1891); 
Gibbs, Dutch N.W. New Guinea, pp. 17, 51, 222 (1917). 
Alsomitra macrocarpa, Roem. Synops. 11. p. 117 (1846). 
Bignoniaceae, F. M. Bailey, in Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensl. xviii. 
p. 2 (1904). 
XXVIII.—THE WEST AFRICAN OIL PALM. 
(Elaeis guineensis, Jacq.). 
J. H. Houzanp. 
In the editorial paper on the West African Oil Palm (&.B. 
1909, p. 47) special importance was attached to the cultivation 
and development of well marked varieties. The lines on which 
subject has been before the Agricultural Departments of the Gold 
Coast, Nigeria, Federated Malay States, Ceylon, Seychelles, ete. 
All the known varieties have been tested, more especially in 
West Africa, the ‘‘Soft-shelled nut’’ (forma tenera, Bece. 
having been one of the most prominent, and great hopes have 
been centred in this form because of its convenience for cracking. 
So far, however, neither tenera nor any other variety or form 
appears to have been found constant in their characters on repro- 
duction. The position was summarised in the Bulletin for 1918 
(pp. 121-124) and the following particulars are to a large extent 
a continuation of the records there discussed. 
*(a) ‘‘ Gamopeley ’’—trees 2, 4 and 6 gave 11 bunches, containing 
2215 nuts weighing 50-11 1b., the fruits being similar to ‘‘ Abe- 
tuntum ’’ [fruit nearly spherical, pericarp black at the apex, 
red at the base, nut hard: see X.B. 1909, p. 40]. *(b) ** Diwakak- 
aka 
fruits were gathered during the year. 
soft-shelled palm, forma tenera, Bece. |—trees 1, 2 and 4 gave 
14 bunches containing 3200 nuts, weighing 77-26 lb. No. la one 
gave 9- bunches. The fruits are similar to “ Abetuntum.’ (d) 
* Abefita”’ [fruit very large, pericarp reddish-white, occasionally 
streaked with black, nut hard: palm exceedingly scarce: (see 
.B. l.c.): the white Oil Palm, var. albescens, Becc. |—trees 4 
and 5 gave 5 bunches containing 654 nuts, weighing 10-8 Ib. ; 
one of them gave true nuts, the other resembl Abepa 
[fruit pointed at the apex, pericarp very thin and of a dark- 
reddish colour,a very hard thick nut (l.c. p. 39): the hard-shelled 
* (a), (b), {c) Cameroon varieties. 
