THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 379 



Omphalocarpum procerum. Ikassa (Benin), Apassa, Ukpassa (Efik). 



It is found in the Calabar, Benin and Ondo provinces of 

 Nigeria. 



It is a common tree of the evergreen forest. It reaches 

 a height of 60 feet with a girth of 28 feet. The bole is short 

 and the crown long, but narrow. The huge, flatly spherically- 

 shaped fruits, quite 9 inches in diameter and 6 inches thick, 

 are most characteristic of the tree. These protrude just from 

 the trunk or heavy branches with little or no stalk. The de- 

 pression in them, top and bottom, is quite an inch deep. There 

 are about sixty seeds inside, more like nuts. The leaf is large. 



The sapwood is white and heartwood is brown-red. It is 

 very hard. 



It grows slowly and stands the shade. The seeds germinate 

 well. It does not sprout from the stump nor do root shoots 

 appear. Elephants and other animals, porcupines especially, 

 eat the fruit. 



The seeds are used in playing Ikbo, a Benin game. The 

 seeds also are used, tied in front of Apata sticks, for making a 

 musical instrument, or tied to the ankles of small boys to make 

 a noise like a rattle when they start to walk. 

 Butyrospermum Parkii. Shea Butter Tree, Dry-zone Oak. Emi- 

 emi or Emi-gidi (Yoruba). 



This is one of the most prevalent trees of the Oyo province 

 of the Southern Provinces of Nigeria and of the Borgu, Niger 

 and Nassarawa provinces of the Northern Provinces of Nigeria. 

 In places it is almost gregarious, but it is most commonly found 

 in mixture with the Dwarf Red Iron wood, Lophira alata. In 

 appearance it is most like a gnarled old oak, except that the base 

 is often burnt and partially hollow. It is a large tree, reaching 

 a height of about 40 feet and a girth of over 10 feet. The root 

 spurns are comparatively short and rounded ; the bole is short, 

 attaining a length of up to 25 feet ; the crown is almost spherical, 

 but rather inclined to be broken up by three or four main 

 branches ; these are very thick in comparison to the size of 

 the tree, but not so much in proportion as in the case of the 

 Baobab. The bark is grey and very deeply fissured, more or 

 less in criss-cross fashion, and even with deeper and wider 

 fissures than that of the oak. The slash is white, and a small 

 amount of thick white latex exudes very slowly from the cut. 

 In the case of the Dwarf Ironwood scarcely any ordinary sap 

 exudes and no latex. The leaves are about 10 inches long, 

 a very dark green and shiny, and not unlike the hart's-tongue 

 fern, but somewhat broader at the end ; the greenness of 

 the leaves, their shininess, and the greater thickness dis- 



