THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 283 



strawberry colour are not easily forgotten. Often only the 

 yellow pistil is found lying on the path. It likes a damp to 

 wet soil, and is usually found growing at the edge of, or actually 

 in, freshwater swamps. 



Timber. — The wood is hardish, but is said to rot easily, 

 though it appears to be rather doubtful, and probably only 

 applies to unseasoned wood. 



Natural regeneration by seed is good. The tree stands a 

 good deal of shade in its younger stages of growth. No 

 other trees will grow under it, and few can stand any or much 

 of its shade. 



European Use. — It has not so far been used by Europeans 

 for export or local use. 



Native Use. — The seeds are cooked and eaten to some 

 extent by the Yorubas and Benin people. 

 Parkia filicoidea. African Locust. Irugba (Yoruba name for 

 fruit) ; Igba the tree (Yoruba) ; Gumui (Mendi) ; Olibracha 

 (Egba) (Yoruba). 



This is a common tree in Abeokuta, Oyo, Benin, and Ogoja 

 provinces of Nigeria. It is found in the deciduous forests. 

 It reaches a height of over 60 feet, with a girth of 5 feet. One 

 of the most distinguishing features of this tree are the very 

 feathery leaves, which appear after the flowers. The large 

 spherical balls of the red staminate flowers enliven the tree in 

 the early part of the year ; later in the year masses of pods, 

 each about 9 inches long, hang down from the ends of the 

 twigs. The base of the bole is often gnarled, partly with the 

 slight root flanges and by the almost continual cutting of 

 the bark by the natives. Normally the bark is brown and com- 

 paratively smooth. The bole is short, dividing about 20 feet 

 from the ground into a large number of small branches. On 

 the whole, as the tree advances in age the branches tend to 

 become pendulous. The crown, spherical in shape, is inclined 

 to be irregularly broken up — partly by the different length 

 of the branches. 



The sapwood is white and the heartwood a dull-brown 

 colour ; for the size of the tree the sapwood is wide. It saws 

 indifferently well, splits badly ; it is hard to plane ; it is said to 

 be termite-proof. The wood is hard and tough. 



The tree is a light-loving but not soil-improving species, 

 except in so far as the root globules take up nitrogen and free 

 it for the use of other plants. Naturally, generation is none 

 too good. Root suckers appear to some extent ; it sprouts 

 most readily from the stump. Perhaps the lack of young 

 self-sown seedlings is due to the fact that the seeds are largely 



