NIGERIA 201 



epiphytic Ansellias and a few woody climbers but no typical lianes, 

 and an undergrowth composed of Leguminous and Composite herbs 

 and undershrubs with some grasses. This type of forest probably 

 at one time covered a much wider area and had a greater extension 

 northward than at present. As mentioned above, a large proportion 

 of its constituents may again be found in the Duru forest between 

 Sokoto and Kano, while within the memory of officials of the present 

 administration areas of woodland previously visible from Sokoto have 

 been denuded for firewood. It tends progressively to give place to 

 the following more open variety of savannah. 



2. Bush Savannah. 



This is probably the form of " bush " with which travelling officials, 

 hunters, and others are most familiar in every province, and is, when 

 not overloaded with tall grass, deserving of the term " open orchard 

 savannah." It is composed of scattered shrubs and small trees of 

 short growth and of a considerable sameness, the whole picture being 

 practically filled in with grasses, which may grow to a height of 6 to 

 8 feet in the rains, but which are swept off by bush-fires in the dry 

 period, leaving bare the intervening spaces, soon to be reoccupied by 

 suffrutescent plants with persistent rootstocks, and later by weeds 

 and the same grasses as before. This resurrection is not due to seeding, 

 which is itself abundant, but mainly to the fact that the majority of 

 bush grasses have perennial underground stems, which, once given 

 occupation, are difficult to dislodge, and, assisted by the recurrent 

 fires, which kill off the seeds and the seedlings of broad-leaved trees, 

 have everything in favour of their natural progress to predominance. 



The commoner bush grasses of this habit found here are : 

 Andropogon Gay anus, Cymbopogon Ruprechtii, C. dijilandrus, C. 

 giganteum, C. hirtus, C. rufus, Andropogon tectorum, A. apricus, Rott- 

 boellia exaltata, Pennisetum pedicellatum, etc. In clumps, generally 

 found in special situations, e.g. near river banks, etc., are Vetweria 

 zizanoides, Saccharum spontaneum, Arundo donax, etc. It is possible 

 that some of these species which now cumber the soil might be put 

 to use in supplying the raw material for paper. 



The prevailing shrubs and small trees of this formation are generally 

 somewhat as follows : Bauhinia reticulata and B. rufescens, Detarium 

 Senegalense, several species of Combretum with the dwarf C. herbaceum ; 

 also Afrorniosia laxifiora and occasional Acacias, e.g. A. Sieberiana, 

 Entada Sudanica, Dichrostachys nutans ; bright flowering species, such 

 as Cochlospermum tinctorium ; several shrubby species of Hibiscus 

 Cassia Arereh, C. Goratensis and other species, Lonchocarpus laxiflorus, 

 Securidaca longipedunculata, Grewia mollis, Feretia canthioides ; the 

 Gardenias — G. ternifolia, G. erubescens, etc. ; Sterospermum Kun- 

 thianum, Sarcocephalus Eussegeri, Parinarium curatellcefolium. Psora- 



