72 GUIDE TO TIMBERS OF NIGERIA 



BARK. " The upper part of the trunk is of a bright, her- 

 baceous green, smooth ; deeply furrowed " (Welwitsch, II, 

 p. 971). Chevalier (1909, p. 161) says, " Dark greyish, scaling 

 in thick plates like that of the Oak," and again (1917, p. 299), 

 " Brown, much wrinkled ; 6-8 mm. thick ; spongy within and 

 forming a thin rhytidome which readily scales off." 



Density, No. 3004, 0-282, or about 17J Ib. per cu. ft. 

 r , 2990, 0-29 18 



Chevalier (I.e.) gives 0-346, 0-318 and 0-327, and again 

 (1917, p. 299) 0-258, adding that when the wood is quite dry 

 the density falls to 0-200. 



USES, ETC. " For tamtams, very sonorous " (De Wildeman, 

 II, p. 971). A timber of very doubtful value, in any country 

 or situation. 



Excoecaria sp. 



Euphorbiaceae. Gen. No. 6571. 



Specimen No. 3616 " Orupa " received from the Government 

 of Nigeria (Lagos). 



A moderately hard and heavy wood of a very unusual yellow- 

 ish colour (at times brownish or orange), much resembling the 

 " Opepe " (Sarcocephalus), for which it can easily be mistaken. 

 Colour almost uniform except for a little stripe. Surface 

 clean, dry and somewhat cold to the touch. Grain, medium, 

 fairly straight. Shade of the transverse section slightly 

 darker than that of the other sections (orange when roughly 

 sawn). 



STRUCTURE. Transverse section. (Prepared with glass- 

 paper.) 



Parenchyma apparently of one kind, viz. : (a) narrowly 

 sheathing the pores and light yellow in colour. 



Vessels visible by means of their parenchyma and just visible 

 as perforations, small, almost uniform in size ; number per 

 sq. mm. 7-12. Arrangement indefinite, being distributed more 

 or less regularly over the whole section, widely isolated ; mostly 

 single, a few pairs. Shape, roundish ; mostly empty, but a 

 few globules of resin here and there. Proportion of the wood, 

 including the sheaths of parenchyma, about one-sixth. 



Rays on the limit of vision, very fine, of one kind only, very 

 numerous and uniform in size and spacing, being at intervals 



