TREES THAT COUNT FUNTUMIA ELASTICA IOI 



tunities thus afforded for opening up a brisk and 

 profitable trade with the merchants at Lagos. Mean- 

 while Olubi had collected specimens of the plant, 

 which were forwarded to Kew for identification. The 

 authorities at home possessed little or no previous 

 knowledge of the tree. The seeds were in many 

 respects similar to those of the Kickxia, whilst the 

 description accompanying the specimens tallied so 

 closely with the well-pronounced features of that 

 particular plant, which had hitherto been allocated 

 to a small area in the Malayan peninsula and the 

 Philippines, that Kew had no difficulty in determin- 

 ing the tree to be that of the Kickxia africana, Benth., 

 and under this description it was added to the official 

 catalogue forthwith. 



It was not until 1905 that Stapf, however, was 

 able to separate the species. He saw the marked 

 difference between them, and clearly and conclusively 

 demonstrated that the name Kickxia would have to 

 be kept for the Malayan group and none other. 

 Stapf accordingly sought a distinct nomenclature for 

 the species, and selected that of Funtumia — from 

 Funtum or O'Funtum, a vernacular name for all 

 the rubber-yielding species of the Gold Coast, Lagos, 

 and the Cameroons. 



This tree is indigenous to the hill forests of the 

 Agome Mountains and in Togoland, the Boam 

 country, the basin of the Upper Mungo, the coast 

 regions of the Cameroons, and of the hill slopes 

 near Libreville, whilst previous tx> the advent of 

 the Fanti men it abounded in the forests of Ibadan 

 and Jebu. 



