52 GUIDE TO TIMBERS OF NIGERIA 



Chevalier gives (1909, p. 182) 0-736 and 0-529. In the Cata- 

 logue of the Empire Timber Exhibition, 1920, it is given as 

 53-56 Ib. per cu. ft. 



Illustration. Hopkinson (I.e.) fig. 18, tr. sec. x. about 50. 



Albizzia sp. 



Leguminosae ; Mimosese. Gen. No. 2000. 



VERNACULAR NAME in Benin " Owe we." Specimen No. 

 4039, received from the Government of Nigeria (Benin). Unwin 

 (1920, pp. 293-4) mentions four species having names similar 

 to "Owewe." 



GENERAL CHARACTERS. -A hard and heavy wood of a 

 Mahogany-red colour somewhat striped light and darker. 

 Grain, medium coarse and rather straight for a leguminous 

 wood. Surface clean, dry and cool. Smell, strong like bad 

 cheese. 



STRUCTURE. Transverse section. (Prepared with glass- 

 paper.) 



Parenchyma of . one kind, viz. : (a) sheathing the vessels 

 and uniting the groups tangentially and also obliquely (i.e. 

 it anastomoses), prominent and readily visible. The lines are 

 very irregular in width and ragged in appearance ; width about 

 a semi-diameter of a vessel and at very variable intervals, but 

 on an average between two to three times the same distance. 

 Some zones are nearly free from both vessels and parenchyma. 

 Colour of P., light pinkish-buff. 



Vessels : Visible as perforations, not diminishing in size, 

 but less in numbers in the zone above mentioned ; 4-16 

 per sq. mm. Scattered in no particular order. Mostly pairs, 

 but many simple and some groups of 3-4 vessels ; widely 

 isolated ; oval. Proportion of the area of the section about 

 one fifth with P. (a). 



Rays : On the limit of vision, very fine and numerous ; of 

 one kind only ; very regular in size and spacing at about twice 

 their own width apart, rarely more ; weak like silk threads ; 

 colour as the Parenchyma (a), but slightly deeper. Proportion 

 of the mass about one-third. Number per sq. mm. 9-11. 



Ground- tissue-cells just visible with macroscope, uniformly 

 filled with crystals. Proportion of the mass about one- 

 third. 



