18 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



ences in the character of the forest. The proximity to the sea causes 

 yet another difference in the type of vegetation, combined as it often 

 is with low elevation. 



Broadly speaking, then, one can differentiate several distinct types 

 of forest, though owing to slight changes in a locality the one merges 

 into the other and very sharp boundary lines cannot be drawn. 



I. The Mangrove Swamps are usually near the sea coast, though 

 not always at the sea coast ; a strip of Evergreen Forest is usually 

 found actually on the sandy dunes of the sea coast. The Mangrove 

 Swamps also extend up the rivers near the coast as a fringe a mile 

 or more wide. 



II. The Evergreen Forest is usually found on the sea coast, also 

 extending inland up the rivers, and also on low land up to an eleva- 

 tion of a few hundred feet, as, for instance, the forest on the banks 

 of the Calabar River. 



III. The Freshwater Swamp Forests are also found in this type 

 of locality. 



IV. The Mixed intermediate Forest is found usually where the 

 rainfall does not exceed 60 inches, or in slightly hilly country, and 

 contains a few deciduous trees. Typical trees of this forest are the 

 Triplochiton Nigericum and Mimusops multinervis. It contains both 

 evergreen and deciduous trees. 



V. The Fringing Forest, or " Gallerie " Forest of the Germans, 

 is found at the edge of rivers or lakes, where the rainfall is otherwise 

 too low for the mixed deciduous forests. 



VI. The Savannah Forest, sometimes so-called Dry-zone Forest, 

 usually occurs with a rainfall of 30 to 50 inches. The typical tree 

 of this is the Lophira alata. 



VII. The Evergreen Forest of the hills, chiefly above an altitude 

 of 2,000 or 3,000 feet. It is especially noticeable on Mount Itakum 

 and the Boji Hills (elevation 5,000 feet). 



VIII. The Open Orchard Forest, with shrubby trees of small 

 growth. 



These, then, roughly follow the (Ecological Divisions according 

 to Warming, which are as follows : 



Mangrove Swamp, 



True Savannah, 



Treeless Savannah, low and high grass, 



Bush Savannah, 



Tree Savannah, 



Savannah Forest, 



Sclerophyllus formations, such as 



Bush and Forest, 



Bamboo Forest. 



