190 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



survey were possible, one could then subdivide each belt into its 

 different areas and provinces, with their special floral characteristics, 

 but at present one must be content to indicate broadly the general 

 composition. 



The Soudan Zone, indeed, includes the greater part of Hausaland 

 and is representative of the typical West African savannah and 

 savannah forest. It merges into the drier sandy " steppe " conditions 

 in the north and into the mixed deciduous and semi-evergreen forests 

 farther south. The only giants in height are the silk-cotton-trees 

 {Eriodendron orientale), but baobabs of enormous girth are common, 

 and the largest timber trees are probably the Maje {Paradaniellia 

 Oliveri) and the Kawo (Afzelia Africana), fair specimens of the dry- 

 zone mahogany, Madachi {Khaya Senegalensis), occurring also in 

 favourable situations. 



Across the central part of Northern Nigeria, let us say from Konta- 

 gora and South Sokoto through the whole of Zaria and South Kano 

 to South Bornu (but excluding the Bauchi plateau, of which I cannot 

 speak from personal knowledge), the plants named in the list here 

 given might be regarded as the average association of species, trees, 

 shrubs and herbaceous, the chief Natural Orders being represented 

 as follows : 



Anonace.^ by the common wild custard apple, Gwandar daji, 

 Anona iSenegalensis, a shrub. 



Capparidace.^ by the Ingidido, Cratceva Adansonii, by shrubs or 

 woody undershrubs of genera Boscia and Mcerua, some thorny 

 scramblers of the genus Capparis, and the familiar weed Gasaya, 

 Gynandropsis pentapihylla. 



BixiNE^ by the Rawaya, Cochlospermum tinctorium, a shrub. 



HypericinE/E by the shrub Kaskawami, Psorospermum Senegalense. 



OcHNACE^ by the Namijin kade, Lophira alata, a tree very typical 

 of the region, two or three species of Gomphia, and a new sj^ecies of 

 Ochna, a small shrub with crenulate leaves. 



Malvace^ by numerous species of Hibiscus, including the cultivated 

 Rama (chiefly K. cannabinus) and Cotton, with the Ramaniya, 

 Urena lobata, and various undershrubs and suffrutescent weeds, mostly 

 of the genus Sida. The Kuka or baobab, Adansonia digitata, and 

 the Rimi or Silk-cotton Tree, Eriodendron orientale, marking the sites 

 of human habitations, past or present, are typical species of this 

 area, as is also the red-flowered Gurjiya, Bombax buonopozense 

 (Bombacacese). 



Sterculiace.^ by the Kukuki, StercuUa tomentosa, a tree, with 

 which we may place the common undershrub Hankufa, Waltheria 

 Americana. 



Tiliace.e by several species of Greivia, the most familiar being 

 the Dargaza, G. mollis, by two or three species of Corchorus, 



