THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 285 



its beautiful clusters of lilac-coloured, pea-shaped flowers, 

 and later in delicate contrast to the fresh, light-green leaves. 

 The trunk is usually not quite straight, being bent about 8 or 

 10 feet from the ground. The bark is smooth, thin, and almost 

 of a silvery-grey colour. The branches are very whippy and 

 difficult to break. 



Timber. — The wide sapwood is white and the narrow heart- 

 wood green-brown when freshly cut. It is very hard, of fine 

 grain and texture, and planes with a smooth surface. It does 

 not split ; is very rough and flexible. 



It is a shade-bearer and grows slowly. The fruit is a small 

 black and pointed pod which opens when ripe, having about 

 three or four beans inside. It is easily killed by fire, but 

 sprouts freely from the stool. It does not crack nor warp. 



It has not been exported nor cut for local use, but it should 

 be a good wood for turnery. 



Native Use. — It is used for knives and axe-handles. 

 Cynometra Afzelii. Waterside Cynometra. Akushunmajadin, 

 Alade (Ikale) ; Iku (seeds), Aka, Eggi (Yoruba) ; Ogabezzi, 

 Ogikiomi Upakeka (Benin). 



It is -a common tree in the Benin province of Nigeria. On 

 the whole it is smaller than C. Mannii, though it has a similar 

 habit. It grows, too, in similar localities, though for the most 

 part it is confined to the evergreen forest zone. It also 

 grows more or less in gregarious groups. The shade of this 

 species is just as dense, if not denser than that of the fore- 

 going. The leaf of the Cynometra is distinguishable from most 

 other leaves because the mid-rib of it is placed towards the 

 inner or almost straight-sided edge of the leaf. In fact, if 

 two leaves are held closely together, they almost look as if 

 they were one which had been cut in half. Benin natives 

 have no use for this tree except as firewood. 

 Cynometra Mannii. Waterside Cynometra. Ekkun (Yoruba). 



It is a common tree on the banks of streams in the Ibadan 

 and Abeokuta provinces of Nigeria. One of the most charac- 

 teristic features of this tree is the pinkish-red colour of the 

 fresh leaves, hanging at the ends of the drooping branches. 

 In November each year the large, corrugated, single bean in 

 each almost indehiscent pod is another curious feature of 

 this tree. The trunk is usually short — in fact, often divided 

 into three or four separate stems, almost at the base. Narrow 

 fringes consisting almost entirely of this species are found 

 on river banks. The dense shade cast by this tree prevents 

 any other species from growing underneath. The timber is 

 hard and difficult to split, and apparently it is not attacked 



