346 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



Native Use. — The Kapok is used for stuffing pillows, for 

 which Is. apiece is charged. Large oblong pieces of the root 

 buttresses are used as native doors and as drying slabs for 

 fresh dyed clothes. Whenever timber fails it is used for fishing 

 canoes (the cheapest kind). 

 Eriodendron anfractuosum. Cotton Tree, similar to Orientale, 

 Araba Eggun (Yoruba) ; Okha (Benin) ; Shakka (Brass). 



Was determined from Western Province material, but it 

 is doubtful whether it is a different species from that found 

 in other parts of Nigeria. 

 Bomhax reflexum. Red-flowering Cotton Tree. Ponpola, Lauro 

 (Ibadan, Yoruba) ; Obokha (Benin) ; Onihokha, Benin (when 

 in flower) ; Titiro (Egbado). 



It is found in the Abeokuta, Ondo, Benin, Owerri and Ogoja 

 provinces of Nigeria, where it is often seen in the mixed forests 

 and in clearings in the evergreen forest zone. 



Chief Characteristics. — It has a larger leaf and thorns than 

 the other Buonopozense (?) (Onikokha of Benin). The most 

 typical feature is the very thick, tulip-like red flower of this 

 tree. This falls to the ground, and is seen on roadways and 

 pathways, indicating the presence of this tree. In February 

 or March, when the flowers appear, the tree is bare, so that 

 the bright-red flowers make it all the more striking. The tree 

 is smaller than the Eriodendron Orientale, attaining a girth 

 of about 12 feet and a bole length of 50 feet. The root spurns 

 are much slighter, in most cases scarcely amounting to small 

 buttresses. The cortex is more soft and spongy than E. 

 Orientale. 



The timber is white, very soft, not quite so tough nor fibrous 

 as E. Orientale, but rather more porous. It planes more easily, 

 dries rather better, splits with less difficulty than E. Orientale, 

 and saws with less trouble. 



It is a very fast-growing, light-loving tree, which does not 

 protect or enrich the soil very much with its leaf fall. Natural 

 regeneration appears to be fair, though, considering the enor- 

 mous number of flowers almost each year, it is surprising 

 that the tree does not spread more rapidly in new clearings 

 in the forest. 



The timber has not been tried for export nor for local use. 



The bark, roots and leaves are used amongst the Yorubas 

 for medicinal purposes. The bush deer eat the flowers, when 

 they fall : the Benin native says if he does not call the tree 

 Onihokha, the deer will not come and eat it. 

 Bombax sp. ?, Bombax buonopozense 'L Ponponla (Ibadan, Yoruba) ; 

 Obokha, Onihokha (Benin). 



