352 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



cut and placed under cover, it suffers most severely from the 

 attacks of a very small weevil which reduces the wood to a 

 fine powder ; it is noticeable that when the timber is entirely 

 dry the surface hardens very considerably and it is less liable 

 and almost immune from attack. When thoroughly dry the 

 wood weighs 35 pounds per cubic foot. 



It is a very rapid-growing, at first slightly shade-bearing and 

 of recent years an eminently light-loving tree. It has soil- 

 protecting and soil-improving qualities. Natural regeneration 

 appears to be very good. Self-sown seedlings show a height- 

 growth of over 6 feet per year. It likes a moist soil, which 

 need not be very rich, but it must have considerable depth. 

 It is rather liable to be blown by the wind or sometimes broken, 

 if in an exposed locality. 



Locally it has been used for boxes and other articles, which 

 have proved quite durable ; it has been used as inside planking 

 and other interior work, and so long as it is carefully seasoned 

 it does not warp very badly ; it is probable that it is one of 

 those timbers that would yield better results by kiln drying. 

 In the Central Circle it has been sawn up as planks for a con- 

 siderable time, but they have been attacked to a great extent 

 by a small weevil. The local people use the bark for making 

 roofs and the wood for doors for their houses. 



In 1906 sample logs of this timber were sold in the Liverpool 

 market as Satinwood, but were not considered equal to Anyeran 

 (Afrormosia elata). Since that date no more trial shipments 

 have been made, so it remains to be seen whether under the 

 altered conditions and the pressing demands for timber in 

 Europe a market cannot now be found for the vast 

 quantities of this timber from Nigeria and other West African 

 countries. 

 Triplochiton Nigericum. Soft Satinwood. Arere (Yoruba) ; Kpa 

 (Efik). 



It is found in the Abeokuta, Ondo, Owerri and Calabar 

 provinces of Nigeria ; it is a common tree of the mixed de- 

 ciduous forests. One of the distinguishing features of this tree 

 are the maple-like leaves. This species has seven lobes to the 

 leaf ; the leaf itself is softer and almost velvety compared 

 to the true maple leaf. The lobes themselves are not quite 

 so sharply pointed and the leaf stalk is considerably thicker. 

 The fruit also is very much like that of the maple, but is a 

 quadruple samara instead of being only a double one. The tree 

 is one of the largest of the whole forest, reaching a height under 

 favourable conditions of nearly 150 feet ; the bole alone may 

 reach a height of 90 feet with a girth of over 20 feet. The 



