282 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



it is often not much more than a shrub, or at most a small 

 tree 35 feet in height. 



The sap wood is white and wide. The heartwood is of a 

 deep-red colour, especially when freshly cut ; when dry it still 

 retains a good red colour, and from this feature it has been 

 termed " red " oak. The timber saws fairly well, but splits 

 badly ; it is somewhat hard to plane it up to a smooth surface, 

 as it is sometimes cross-grained. The heartwood is termite- 

 proof ; it takes nails only moderately well. It is a moderately 

 hard and durable wood ; it does not warp very much. When 

 the logs are dry they will float in water. The weight of the 

 timber is 55 pounds per cubic foot. 



Considering the prevalence of the tree, natural regeneration 

 is poor — rodents may account, of course, for many of the 

 beans ; it sprouts well from the stump. In the dry-zone 

 forest region root suckers appear too. It is a shade-bearing 

 and soil-improving tree ; it does not grow very fast. No 

 plantations have yet been made with this tree, though it 

 deserves a place in experimental plantations. It demands a 

 good soil, and the roots go down to a greater depth than many 

 of the other trees. 



Locally it is used as a house-building timber, and occasion- 

 ally the dried pods are used as firewood. 



In 1906 sample logs of this tree were sold in the Liverpool 

 market as red oak at 2s. per cubic foot. It was not considered 

 as good as Aligna or as Erumacie. Since that date no further 

 shipments of this timber have been made. A further testing 

 of the market by small trial shipments of logs would thoroughly 

 reveal its value as an export timber. 

 Berlinia auriculata (Benth.). Red Oak. Ekpagoize (Benin). 



Found near the Okwo River in the Siluko sub-district of 

 the Benin province. It is not quite such a large species as 

 the B. acuminata. 

 Parkia biglobosa. African Locust. Aridan Abatta, Irugbo Abatta 

 Iru (Yoruba) ; Ubgori, Lakobemi, Enymi (Benin) ; Inya (New 

 Calabar) ; Ekok (Oban, Ekoi). 



It is a verj'^ common tree in the Calabar, Owerri, Warri, 

 Benin, Ondo (?) and Abeokuta provinces of Nigeria. 



It is a large tree, with vv^ide spreading fruit flanges. It has 

 darker and heavier foliage and a wider crown than Parkia 

 filicoidea. It often shows up on river banks with its light- 

 red young leaves. It should be easily distinguished from 

 other similar trees of this family by its cluster of beans, similar 

 to French beans, when ripe. These are yellow, and the spice- 

 like scent and the round balls of staminate flowers of a crushed 



