176 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



to cut the smallest bowl for a game of skittles or bowls. Its very 

 yellow small foliage is most distinctive and not unlike box [Buxus 

 sempervirens), but the leaf is flatter and does not curl like box. 



One of the most valuable introductions in the forest plantations 

 at Olokemeji and in the firewood plantations at Ibadan is the Siamese 

 Cassia or Bombay BlackAvood {Cassia Siamea). Almost indifferent 

 as to soil and not requiring a heavy rainfall, and casting a heavy shade, 

 it soon grows on the laterite, covers the ground, killing weeds, and 

 rapidly attaining the size of a tree. In the plantations at Olokemeji, 

 the trees reached a height of over 20 feet and a girth of about a foot 

 in five years. It is one of the few trees that will thoroughly kill the 

 Econ grass. The masses of yellow flowers which appear in the crown 

 of the tree and also in the leader rather interrupt the height growth, 

 but make a magnificent show at the end of the dry season. It continues 

 to flower and fruit for the larger part of the year. Either as a firewood 

 tree or as a timber tree, it should always be worthy of a place in all 

 Afforestation areas where the rainfall is none too heavy. The hard, 

 almost black wood is of value in India, so that it should prove of value 

 in Nigeria when the trees are large enough for cutting into planks or 

 boards. Amongst the exotic trees which have not yet found a place 

 is the Trinkomali Wood [Berrya Otmnomilla) and Indian Rose 

 Chestnut or Ironwood (Mesua ferrua), seedlings which were obtained 

 from seeds of the large trees in the Botanical Gardens at Victoria. 

 If they grow well in Nigeria, the somewhat heavy and flexible Trinko- 

 mali Wood or Petwun and the Ironwood should both prove of value 

 for local industrial work. 



Although found as specimen trees in the Olokemeji Arboretum, 

 Copaifera officinalis has not been formed in plantations, though small 

 groups of the West African Gum Copal {Copaifera salicihounda) are 

 seen in the Ogba plantation of the Central Circle. Both these trees 

 are doing very well, more especially the latter, which have reached a 

 height of over 12 feet in six years. The former had produced some 

 tears of gum three-quarters of an inch in diameter in the tenth year 

 of its growth. In addition to these two, there is the Cameroon Gum 

 Copal {Copaifera Demeusii), seedlings of which were obtained from the 

 Botanical Gardens at Victoria. Considering that the last-named tree 

 is indigenous in a territory so much closer to Nigeria than either of 

 the first-named Gum Copals, it is highly probable that this one will 

 grow better than either of the others. Up to the present it is not known, 

 however, how the yield of the Gum Copal comjjares with either of the 

 former. As far as West Africa is concerned, the Sierra Leone Gum 

 Copal has proved to be the most prolific in this respect. 



The Indian Almond {Terminalia catappa) is seen more as an avenue 

 tree, mostly in towns such as Lagos, but also in the Mamu Forest 

 Reserve. It is certainly one of the best shade trees for planting at 



