410 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 



soup. They have a distinctly bitter flavour, but make a very 

 healthj^ vegetable soup. The leaves are often sold in the local 

 markets. This shrub is occasionally left more or less in line 

 as a small living fence. 

 Vernonia cinerea (Les.). Ash-coloured Fleabane. Elegbe Oju 

 (Yoruba). 



It is found in the Olokemeji Reserve of the Abeokuta 

 province of Nigeria. A large, woody shrub, one of the chew- 

 stick family, the leaves of which are sometimes used for 

 making soup. 



Lycopodaceae. 



Lycopodium phyllamaria (Linn.). 



This is a small Lycopodium found in the Benin province 

 of Nigeria. It was obtained from the uppermost branches of 

 a very tall tree, growing at the edge of a deep valley about 

 8 miles north of Benin City. 



NON-INDIGENOUS TREES OF NIGERIA 



Myrtaceae. 



Eucalyptus amygdalina. 



A specimen of this tree stands on the old beach at Akassa, 

 Warri province. 

 Eucalyptus tereticornis. 



Lagos Island. 

 Eucalyptus rudis. 



Lagos Island. 

 Eucalyptus tessitaris. 



Lagos Island. 

 Eucalyptus citriodora. 



A specimen of this tree stands in the Botanical Gardens 

 at Calabar. 



NOTES ON NIGERIAN TREES OF WHICH THE BOTANICAL 

 NAMES ARE NOT KNOWN 



Itufiak or Etufiak {EGk) . Essunwoi (Yoruba) ; Ilako (Benin). 



It is a medium-sized tree of the freshwater swamps, with 

 heavy dark-green foliage ; it grows quite gregariously in stands 

 of one to ten acres in extent. The trunk reaches a girth of about 

 7 feet and a bole length of about 30 feet. The roots spurns are 

 comparatively slight, and do not extend much over a foot up the 

 bole. The foliage is very heavy and it casts a most dense shade, 

 making patches of this forest the darkest of almost any in Africa. 



