GUIDE TO TIMBERS OF NIGERIA 15 



Our specimens No. 3O94 " Hendui ' from the Gold Coast 

 (McDonald) and 1994 HS. " Blackheart " from a commercial 

 source, 2808 H.S " Kakoo " from the G.C. and 0872 HS. 

 " Eki " from the Yoruba district W. Coast Africa, and another 

 " Wowata " No. 2746 from the San Pedro River, all agree. The 

 last number was authenticated by Sir W. Th. Dyer. No. 

 2856 HS. " Upenikwa " from S. Nigeria does not agree. 



GENERAL CHARACTERS. A very hard and heavy wood of a 

 deep red colour resembling that of dried blood, striated with 

 paler lines, and also white lines due to the great quantity of a 

 white deposit. Surface clean, cold to the touch, a little clinging 

 on the more porous parts only, but hardly likely to soil much. 

 Colour fades on exposure. Grain, coarse, open, very much 

 inclined, the angle changing from ring to ring. Shade of the 

 transverse section slightly darker than that of the other 

 sections. Smell, faint but unpleasant when revived by moisten- 

 ing. 



STRUCTURE. Recalls that of Pterocarpus. 



Transverse section. (Prepared with glass-paper.) -See PL 

 II, fig. 1. Parenchyma of two kinds : (a) vasicentric, and 

 (b) concentric. 



Parenchyma (6), visible in very numerous, undulating, 

 continuous concentric lines, which are about as wide as six 

 times the breadth of a ray ; at intervals in a radial direction, of 

 about the longer diameter of a large pore ; colour intermediate 

 between that of the rays and of the P. (a) ; occasionally branch- 

 ing; contains crystals. Vessels very clearly visible and even 

 prominent (as perforations) ; very large, little variation either 

 in size or numbers, but perhaps a slight increase in size as the 

 tree ages ; widely isolated, but fairly evenly distributed, with 

 a distinct tendency to a radial arrangement en echelon ; 0-4 

 per sq. mm. mostly in m-and-d groups of 2-3 pores ; shape, 

 oval ; contents white, abundant and a feature, also a little 

 red resin. Proportion of the wood, small. Rays just visible 

 with the lens (more visible when dry), very fine ; of one kind 

 only ; lighter in colour than the ' ground tissue ; intervals 

 regular, usually two but sometimes three to the pore, diam. 

 15-18 per mm. ; contents, some crystals ; proportion of the 

 wood about J. " Slightly nodose where they cross the lines 

 of P. (a^ " (Hopkinson, p. 454). Ground- tissue extremely 



