36 GUIDE TO TIMBERS OF NIGERIA 



For either species (not specified) : Abo-Ogea ; Ako-Ogea ; 

 Balsam ; Boo ; Bu ; Bubalinabo ; lya Odan ; Kadaura ; 

 Katlahi ; Karon-maje ; Maji ; Ogeagum (i.e. Ogea-gum) ; 

 Santang ; Thievi ; Wood-oil-tree. 



Description of the wood from a specimen, No. 3002 " lya," 

 received from the Government of Nigeria (Empire Timber 

 Exhibition, 1920). 



GENERAL CHARACTERS.- A comparatively soft and rather 

 light wood about as heavy and hard as the European Alder, 

 and of a reddish-brown colour with some darker (colder) 

 coloured striae. Surface darkens but little on exposure, dull 

 on account of the half-tone effect produced by the rays in 

 tangential section ; not cold to the touch ; might soil, but 

 would not show the dirt. Grain, coarse, open, oblique. Shade 

 of the transverse section somewhat lighter than that of the 

 other sections. Smell, none. 



STRUCTURE. Resembles that of Afzelia and Brachystegia 

 of this series. 



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

 fig. 3. 



Parenchyma of two kinds : (d) vasicentric and (c) simulating 

 the ring-boundaries. 



Parenchyma (a) readily visible to the unaided eye, sheathing 

 the pores in broad patches of a rhomboidal or lozenge-shape, 

 which are often winged laterally, sometimes joining the 

 pores to concentric lines ; easily visible and giving the lighter 

 tone to the section ; proportion of the wood from one-fifth 

 to one-quarter. P. (c) not readily distinguishable from the 

 P. (a) ; in fine concentric lines readily visible in the denser 

 zones ; colour very little lighter than that of the rays ; width 

 2-3 times that of a ray. 



Vessels readily visible as perforations, large, uniformly dis- 

 tributed except in the zones pobr in pores ; arrangement if 

 oblique then not very definite ; 0-4 per sq. mm. ; simple, and 

 less frequently in radial m-and-d groups, twinned or nested 

 groups being rare (radial groups 23 pores, nests 3-6) ; shape, 

 oval ; contents brown, not abundant. 



Rays visible with difficulty, fine, of one kind ; lighter in 

 colour than the ground, but darker than the P. (a). Somewhat 

 irregularly spaced, more numerous in places, sometimes exceed- 



