THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 391 



It deserves a further trial as a pattern-wood, comparatively 

 large quantities being available. Locally it has not been 

 sawn up for planks. 



In Calabar the timber is used for stools, which are carved 

 out of large solid blocks of this wood in one piece, without 

 a joint. 



Native Use. — In the Benin country the timber is used for 

 doors and the roots for medicine. 



The box of the musical instrument Asologun, a kind of 

 zither, is made of this wood in the Yoruba country. The latex 

 is used for mixing with real rubber latex of the Anyo or Fun- 

 tumia elastica tree. 

 Voacanga Africana (Stapf.). Cloth Shrub. Dodo, Giwini (Yoru- 

 ba) ; Igbo (Benin). 



It is a common shrub-like tree in the Ogoja, Onitsha, Benin, 

 Warri, Ondo, Ibadan and Abeokuta provinces of Nigeria. The 

 tree is usually noticeable from its white wax-like, trumpet- 

 shaped flowers, which have a very fragrant scent, and which 

 very rapidly wither when cut. The bark is thin and extremely 

 fibrous and hard to break, so much so that the natives of the 

 Asaba district make grass-like fibre out of it and mix it with 

 a silk fibre to make a very durable kind of cloth, which the 

 natives wear. It grows in waste places and requires light. 

 It sprouts well from the stump. 

 Conopharyngia durissima. 



This tree is found in the Western Provinces. It is of a 

 similar size to C. pachysiphon, and the timber is just as 

 durable. 

 Conopharyngia 2)a'CJiy siphon. False Boxwood. Dodo ? (Yoruba) ; 

 Ibbu (Benin). 



It is a common tree in the Calabar, Warri, Benin and Ondo 

 provinces of Nigeria. A small tree, attaining a girth of only 

 4 feet, with a large leaf, bearing large spherical-shaped fruits 

 in pairs. The large creamy-white, strongly scented flowers 

 are conspicuous to both sight and scent. The bark, even in 

 its younger stages, is covered with small yellow lenticels. The 

 wood is hard and yellow in colour, and there is no difference 

 between sapwood and heartwood. The latex has sometimes 

 been used as an adulterant for rubber. It is a shade-bearer, 

 and is found at the border of the evergreen and mixed deciduous 

 forests. 



The natives of the Benin country use the roots for medicinal 

 purposes. 

 Farquharia elliptica. Onanisankianmon (Benin). 



This is a member of the new genus of Farquharia found by 



