344 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



occasional very small, long and narrow fissures and tiny pits 

 scattered more or less a foot apart up and down the stem. It 

 is almost gregarious in habit. 



The timber is a red-brown colour with a white sapwood. 

 It is very similar to mahogany and could probably be sold 

 as such. It is moderately durable. A tree which fell down 

 in the Olokemeji Reserve during 1910 was not absolutely 

 unsound in 1915. 



It is apparently a slight shade-bearer and rather slow 

 grower. Reproduction by seed is evidently rather doubtful, as 

 few or no self-sown seedlings are found in the neighbouring forest. 

 It has not been cut for local use, nor for export, though sample 

 logs should be tried on the Liverpool market to test its value. 



The natives use the roots for medicinal purposes, but they 

 do not use the timber. 

 Grewia carpinifolia. Itakum Okere (Yoruba). 



Olokemeji. 

 Grewia tetragastris. Ora-Igho (Yoruba). 



It is a shrub, reaching a height of about 5 feet, of the mixed 

 deciduous forest in the Abeokuta province of Nigeria (Oloke- 

 meji Reserve). 

 Triumfetta rhomboidea. Boko pupa, Akobolobolo, Ilasa omodo 



(Yoruba) ; Nesuwa (Benin). 

 Triumfetta cordifolia. Esura (Yoruba). 

 Triumfetta sp. Apiko (Yoruba). 

 Corchorus acutangulus. Abo-jaga (Yoruba). 

 Corchorus olitorius. Eyo, Ganbe (Yoruba). 



These are common plants in the Ogoja and Abeokuta 

 provinces of Nigeria. 



They yield long-stapled fibre worth about £27 a ton. Owing 

 to the fact that they grow wild and are not cultivated by the 

 natives, the difficulty is to be able to collect sufficient quan- 

 tities in one locality to pay for the cost of retting, baling, etc., 

 to make the fibre production a paying proposition. 



Malvaces. 



Hibiscus esculentus (F.). Okra or Achro (fruit). 



In most provinces of Nigeria. 

 Hibiscus Greivioides. 



Yoruba country (?). 

 Hibiscus quinquilobus (C. Don). Onegozi (Benin). 



Benin. 

 Sida carpinifolia (Linn.). Oshopotu Dudu (Yoruba). 



It is found in Abeokuta province of Nigeria, and is used 

 by the local people for making fibre. 



