92 



THE KINGDOM OP UGANDA 



R^^^ X^ 



about 6,000 feet above the 

 sea. At this point it be- 

 gins to admit forms not 

 specially characteristic of 

 the equatorial zone, such 

 as dracfenas and tree-ferns. 

 The dracaena is a very 

 striking object in these 

 Uganda forests. It is really 

 a tree-lily related to the 

 yuccas and aloes. This tree 

 branches, and has at the 

 end of each long whitish 

 green stem a great tuft of 

 sword-like leaves. From 

 out of these tufts spring 

 long drooping green stalks 

 covered with numerous buds, 

 which open into white lily- 

 like flowers, these again 

 giving place to red or 

 yellow berries. The draca^na 

 is much in favour amongst 

 the natives of Uganda for 

 forming hedges, as sections 

 of it stuck into the ground 

 take root easily. Wild 

 bananas are found abundantly in these Uganda forests. They are very 

 handsome objects in the landscape, owing to the bright grass-green of 

 their enormous leaves and the orange-red midribs of these huge fronds. 

 Unlike the cultivated banana, the fruit has no sweet pulp — merely a little 

 white pith — and when ripe, produces large, round, slightly flattened seeds 

 of glossy black, which are in much request in some parts of Africa as 

 ornaments or charms. 



Another object of beauty in the Uganda forests is the raphia palm, 

 which I have not seen elsewdiere in this Protectorate, though it is a very 

 common object in British Central Africa. The fronds of the raphia are 

 the largest met with in any palm. JNIy photographs will give a better 

 idea than any amount of verbal descri[)tion of its enormous raceme of 

 dusty inflorescence, which turns to an untidy drab-coloured network 

 containing innumerable shiny chestnut-lirown cones. 



However common the wild date palm may be in these regions, it is 



78. WILD BANANA, UGANDA FOREST 



