190 COLONIAL REPORTS MISCELLANEOUS. 



In addition to the above the numerous fringing forests found 

 scattered about this formation are rich in valuable plants from 

 the monsoon and rain forests. The plants most commonly met 

 with, especially along the banks of the more important streams, 

 are : Carapa guianensis, which here attains fairly large dimen- 

 sions, Ricinodendron africanus, a species of Cynometra close to 

 C. Mannii, Pterocarpus esculentus, Mimusops multinervis, 

 Diospyros mespiUformis, Polyadoa umbellata, Sclirebera golun- 

 gensis, Sterculia Barteri, Sterculia tomentosa, Sterculia cordi- 

 folia, ('liloropliora excelsa, Kliaya Punchii, Kliaya grandis, 

 Eriodendron anfractuosum, Cola Afzelii, Xanthoxylum se.ne- 

 galense, Spondias lutea, Terminalia superba, Albizzia Brownei, 

 Albizzia fastigiata, Spathodea campanulata, the moist country 

 form of Landolphia owariensis, Landolphia Thompsonii, Lan- 

 dolphta florida, Carpodinus hirsuta, the bamboo palm, Raphia 

 vinifera, and the oil palm. 



Taken all round, the savannah forests, together with the fring- 

 ing forests, are fairly rich in useful plants, and since they cover 

 very extensive areas in the hinterland of our West African posses- 

 sions, they are by no means to be despised. As a general rule 

 the natural regeneration of the trees is good and the age grada- 

 tions satisfactory. 



E. Savannahs. 



These consist of formations in which trees are practically 

 absent and the dominant growth represented by the grasses. In 

 the portions of West Africa with which I am acquainted they 

 occur merely as local variants here and there of the savannah 

 forests. I have seen no very extensive examples of them. 



The thorn forests are 'also poorly represented and only occur in 

 small patches, such as near Accra, and again in the Banda 

 country of north-western Ashanti, within the savannah forest 

 districts. 



The most important of the Edaphic formations is the Mangrove 

 Forest. It i? not, however, very strongly represented on the 

 Gold Coast, but in the Niger delta several thousand square miles 

 of country are occupied by this .type. The species composing 

 these forests are very gregarious, and are mainly composed of 

 Rhizophora racemosa, R. Mangle, and Avicennia africana. The 

 first two yield excellent firewood, and their bark contains a 

 high percentage of tannin. The timber is hard and fairly 

 durable. The mangrove forests occur at the mouths of the Tano, 

 Ankobra, and Pra Rivers of the Gold Coast. 



Conversions. 



As a general rule the destruction of the vegetation by the 

 natives for agricultural purposes results in the following conver- 

 sions, which invariably end in a drier type of vegetation succeed- 

 ing the one removed. The stages are : Rain forest is converted 

 into monsoon forest ; monsoon forest into savannah forest : 

 savannah forest into pure savannah, 



