CHAPTER XII 



THE OIL PALM AND PALM KERNEL 

 INDUSTRY 



1. Esthetic Aspect. — A most familiar sight to everyone visiting 

 a farm in the southern part of Nigeria is the charming grace of the 

 fronds of the Oil Palm in the clearings near the house. The long, 

 straight, cylindrical, undivided stem, crowned by a large tuft of broad 

 green palm leaves, easily distinguishes the Oil Palm {Elceis Guineensis) 

 from the Tombo {Raphia vinifera), which has a thinner stem, clothed 

 from the base to the top with 40-feet long heavy fronds, the 

 undersides being silvery and the upper part light green. In certain 

 times of the year huge bunches of yellow grape-like fruits hang quite 

 4 feet down from the narrow crown of this tree. It is most noteworthy 

 that the Tombo Palm is found growing in or near a swamp, and only 

 occasionally planted as an avenue tree on drier land, whereas the 

 Oil Palm is usually found in the hard and drier ground and only occa- 

 sionally in the swamp. The Oil Palm is much larger than another 

 Wine Palm, Eaphia Hookeri, which is similar but smaller than Raphia 

 vinifera, the growth being similar but the seeds smaller. 



Raphia Ruffia is a small swamp palm, with practically no stem, 

 but a large number of long, thin, and somewhat light, pendulous fronds. 



Most visitors to West Africa are quite familiar with the huge casks 

 of orange-coloured or yellow oil, which often leaks on to the deck of 

 the ship, and the peculiar, rather nauseatingly pungent odour of the 

 " sweating " kernel bags. 



la. General Description of the Oil Palm Tree, Fruit and 

 Nut. — From the railway carriage we can see numerous groves of Oil 

 Palms, as well as isolated specimens, almost continuously for the first 

 60 miles from Lagos, and more isolated for the next 180 miles. 

 With few exceptions the Oil Palm is a single stemmed tree, one notable 

 forked tree being seen on the northern side of the Nigerian Railway, 

 a little more than three miles before reaching Ibadan. In this case 

 an oil palm nut may have become embedded in an old leaf stalk sheath 

 and subsequently sprouted, thus forming a separate tree growing on 

 the other, which in the course of time has become joined up. 



It will be noticeable that in passing through the heavy forest near 

 Olokemeji few or no Oil Palms are seen. This forest, however, is 



