THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 361 



The root spurns are not very large, but spoil the shape of the 

 bole at the base. 



It is a slow-growing, shade-bearing, soil-protecting and 

 soil-improving tree. Natural regeneration is poor, chiefly 

 perhaps because 1he Duika eat the fruit; in fact, the Benin 

 name means the chop or food of Uso or Duika. 



In 1906 samples of this timber were sold in the Liverpool 

 market as a hardwood, which was considered hard and heavy. 

 Since then none has been shipped, nor has it been felled for 

 local use. Perhaps with the changed conditions in the demand 

 for timber, both hard and soft, a further trial would now show 

 whether it was of an}' value as an export timber. 

 Pentadesma grandifoUa. 



Distribution. — It is found in the Oban Reserve of the Calabar 

 province of Nigeria. 



Characteristics. — It is a medium-sized tree, with large oblong 

 leaves having numerous glands and lateral nerves which are 

 about a tenth of an inch apart. The leaves are larger and 

 the exterior sepal shorter than in P. butyracece. 



Silvicnltural Qualities. — It grows in the evergreen forest, 

 is a shade-bearer, and comparatively slow-growing tree. 



Utility. — Although the fruit has not j^et been collected, it 

 it probable that the nuts would contain a similar oil to those 

 of P. butyracece. 

 Pentadesma butyracece. Butter or Tallow Tree. Okarora, Ossa 

 (Ondo) ; Ekuso (Yoruba) (Ikale) ; Ijeni Udegbu, Agba (west 

 side), Udegbi (Benin) ; Orugbo erin (Ondo) ; Amu Ne (New 

 Calabar) ; Ikakama Udia Ebian (Efik) ; Ikakama Udia Ebian, 

 Igbofia (Ibibio) ; Ntini Nyok (Kwa). 



Distribution. — It is found in the evergreen forests of the 

 Jebu, Ode, Benin, Warri, Owerri and Calabar provinces of 

 Nigeria. It is quite prevalent in its typical locality and very 

 damp, almost swampy, regions of the forest near small water- 

 ways, even comparatively near the sea. 



Chief Characteristics. — It is a thin, tall tree, with dark bark 

 and flatly compressed crown consisting of four or five tiers of 

 branches, very close together in almost true whorls. The foliage 

 is very thick and the leaves thick and leathery. It exudes 

 a mass of gamboge-like latex as soon as slashed, and the slash 

 is orange-red. The latex solidifies on exposure to the air. 

 The large pear-shaped fruit has a soft rind, which usually is 

 pierced by the fall to the ground, and the Cola-shaped seeds 

 are embedded in a soft, yellowish-white pulp. The large sepals 

 at the base of the flower are quite typical, in their persistency 

 often being found at the base of unripe fruit. 



