320 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



up, the stem is covered with brown-coloured bark, which is 

 slightly pitted. The leaves are in tufts, though to a lesser 

 extent than either K. grandis or Ivoriensis. The large masses 

 of small white flowers remind one of lilac. It is of the same 

 white colour. It flowers in February, when it is also in new 

 leaf. Compared with K. grandis it usually has a shorter and 

 somewhat more curved bole. 



Distribution. — It is found in the Abeokuta, Ibadan and 

 Benin provinces of Nigeria. 



The capsule is of medium size, splitting open into five 

 segments which remain attached at the base. On the whole 

 it is rather thinner than K. grandis or Ivoriensis, but does not 

 come to such a sharp point as either of those two. 



The timber is very similar in grain and texture to the other 

 Khayas, but if anything it is a little heavier and a little closer 

 texture then either grandis or Ivoriensis, especially in those 

 districts where it grows in the mixed deciduous forests, and 

 where the base of the trunk is burnt with an occasional 

 grass-fire. 



Although not quite so fast-growing as the other Khayas, 

 it is a fast-growing tree with soil -protecting and soil-improving 

 qualities. Natural regeneration is fair, though the little thin, 

 flat seeds are very soon attacked by a little boring insect when 

 they fall to the ground. However, when rapidly gathered 

 after having fallen, they retain their germinative capacity 

 for a greater length of time than in the case of the Entandro- 

 phragmas. On the whole, if the locality is not too dry or fires 

 too prevalent, this tree tends to widen its area of distribution 

 with the spread of farms. The leading-shoot borer attacks 

 this tree in its younger stages perhaps even more than the 

 other Khayas, more especially when it is planted pure. In 

 this connection it should be noted that this Khaya, as well 

 as the others, is not gregarious in habit, being always found 

 singly, though varying much in number per square mile. This 

 factor rather indicates that pure plantations should not be 

 made, or at any rate that it should only be planted in small 

 groups mixed with other species, also in small groups, from a 

 quarter to one acre in extent. In leased timber areas it has been 

 planted mixed with other species. On the whole, it has not 

 been exported so much as the other Khayas. It has been sold 

 as Niger Mahogany. 



Value. — 3d. to 6d. per superficial foot from Sapoba, in the 

 Benin province. The natives occasionally cut it for sawing 

 into planks. 

 Khaya anthotheca ?. White-barked Mahogany or White Mahogany, 



