246 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



Both this and the former species are propagated very easily 

 by cuttings. In fact, it is possible to take the end of a branch 

 complete with the leaves and put it in the ground, when it 

 will grow. It likes a comparatively deep moist soil, though 

 it will stand any amount of drought without actually dying. 

 It stands pruning well and grows moderately rapidly. 



It is useful for making live fences. 



Native Use. — Both Yorubas and Benis use the tree for 

 boundaries, simply sticking cuttings in wherever it is wished 

 to mark a place. " Ju-ju " places are also marked in this way. 

 The leaves are used medicinally in Benin. 

 Draccena Perottetii. Boundary tree. Ope, Kanakan (Yoruba). 



Found in the Mamu Forest. 

 Draccena sp. Boundary tree. Oro Igbo (Yoruba) ; Uruaro 

 (Benin). 



A common Dracaena found in the Benin and Abeokuta 

 provinces of Nigeria. It is often used for making fences to 

 farms and boundaries for village or farm land, and for marking 

 special " Ju-ju " places. The Benin people state that it has 

 more latex than the other species of this genus. 



Marantaceae. 



Clinogyne, syn. Donax cusputata. Yoruba Soft Cane. Toto (Y.). 

 It is found in the Abeokuta province of Nigeria. It is 

 a small soft cane which grows gregariously in groups from a 

 quarter to half an acre in extent in the Olokemeji Reserve, to 

 a height of about 5 feet, and has large, alternating, very fine 

 parallel -veined leaves. Inflorescence, raceme or panicle-like 

 bracts, deciduous. Some species yield starch or fibre. Toto is 

 found quite abundantly in the middle of the Olokemeji Reserve. 

 It is used for mat-making, and considered most valuable. 



Orchidaceae. 



Polystachya sp. (Lindl.). Eme-ela (Yoruba). 



It is found in the Olokemeji Reserve in the Abeokuta 

 province of Nigeria. 

 Polystachya odorata. Afoma (Yoruba). 



This is a parasitic plant, very similar to mistletoe, which 

 attacks many kinds of trees and has recently been found on 

 the six-year-old teak at Mamu and Olokemeji, in the Abeokuta 

 province of Nigeria. 



Ulmaceae. 



Celtis solenostigma. Hard Celtis (large). Ita (Yoruba) ; Ita, 

 Uta (Ikale) ; Ohianamemme, Ohia (Benin) ; Omoin, Itako, 

 Ita gangan (Egba). 



