114 COMMERCIAL BOTANY. 



for culinary or other purposes. It was introduced to notice 

 in England in 1880. 



Under the names of M'poco nuts, MABO nuts, and NIKO 

 nuts, the hard bony fruits, minus the fleshy coverings in 

 which they are enveloped when fresh, come occasionally into 

 the port of Liverpool from the west coast of Africa, chiefly 

 from Liberia and the Gaboon. The fruits of the M'pogo, 

 which are imported from the Gaboon, are about two inches 

 long and from one to one and a half inches in diameter. 

 They contain three or four small roundish seeds, from which 

 a very large percentage of oil can be expressed. The Mabo 

 fruits are of an oblique-ovoid form, two inches or more long, 

 and about an inch in diameter, with a very rough or chan- 

 nelled surface. The seeds of this kind are also very rich in 

 oil, of a very fluid character. These fruits and seeds are 

 imported from Liberia. The Niko nuts, which come also 

 from Liberia, are of a similar bony nature, about two inches 

 long and one and half inches in diameter. The seeds, like 

 the other kinds, contain a large proportion of oil. Neither 

 of these have become established articles of trade, though 

 the oil seems to be of a character that might become useful. 

 Owing to the want of authentic specimens of the leaves and 

 flowers of the plants producing these fruits, they have 

 never been botanically identified, though it has been sur- 

 mised that they might belong to the gemis Parinarium, of 

 the natural order Rosacese. Probably, however, they may 

 prove to be a species of Elceocarpus. They first made their 

 appearance in Liverpool pome ten or twelve years since. 



