THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 237 



even the Coconut Palm. In fact, an isolated specimen growing 

 well could be not unfavourably compared to the Royal Palm 

 in the grandeur of its spread of leaf and the beauty of the 

 outward-spreading, fan-shaped bold crown. Both the male 

 and the female flowers are very conspicuous. The bunches 

 of fruit, up to 3 feet in length, hang down like enormous 

 elongated bunches of yellow grapes. The nuts are covered 

 with a smooth yellow hard skin, set in scales very similar to 

 those of a cone, except that each scale is tightly joined to the 

 next. When the fruit decays, or is boiled, the scales come 

 off as well as the j^ellow, fibrous matter, which gives a yellowish 

 tinge to the water. The main difference between the base 

 of the Oil Palm and that of the leaf of this tree is the extension 

 of it more than half round the bole in the case of R. vinifera, 

 and also flatly and smoothly down the stem. On the 

 other hand, in the Oil Palm the leaf grows more abruptly 

 out of and away from the stem. Owing to the Tombo Palm 

 stem being smaller (on the average only 9 inches in diameter), 

 the base of the frond extends nearly all round the tree, the 

 lower one overlapping the higher one, and each placed 

 in revolving fashion round the trunk, one above the other. 

 The leaf scars of the Oil Palm are much smaller. Owing to 

 the greater length of the leaf of this palm, the crown does not 

 appear to be such a tuft of leaves at the top of the tree as in 

 the case of the Oil Palm. In old age it appears more as a 

 cylindrical mass of leaves occupying the upper half or third 

 of the tree. 



The timber is more fibrous and soft than that of the Oil 

 Palm. The fibres, however, are dark brown, almost black when 

 very wet or after they have lain in water for any length of time. 



On the whole the tree is slow-growing, even slower than 

 the Oil Palm. It stands a good deal of shade in the earlier 

 stages, but later on is apparently a light-demanding tree. It 

 grows in freshwater swamps and at the edges of such places. 

 Although it thrives best in certain localities, it can be planted 

 and does grow on solid and comparatively dry land near 

 Calabar. In the Calabar province they are often planted as 

 an avenue leading up from the main road through the farm 

 to the house. It will stand floods. Natural regeneration is 

 good, and with the spread of propagation it tends to be more 

 widely distributed. In the Calabar and Ogoja provinces seeds 

 were distributed to the natives for planting for the production 

 of palm wine to take the place of that obtained from the Oil 

 Palm. The timber has not been used for export, nor has it 

 been cut for local use. The leaf stalks, however, have been 



