619 



Abo, Nupe, in Nigeria and also Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, 

 Cameroons, Belgian Congo. 



Of little importance : but the leaves because of their scabrid 

 surfaces are used as sand-paper like those of F. exasperafa (q.v.) 

 with which it has sometimes been confused. Ashes sometimes 

 used with the native dye " Elu " {Lonchocarpus cyanescens 

 see p. 244) when the ashes of the wood of " Avin " {Anogeissus 

 leiocarpns—see p. 309) are not available (Foster, Ni.r Trees Sc 

 PI. p. 64). ■•.■ 



A shrub about 8 ft. high ; riverside everywhere, Nupe (Barter, 

 Herb. Kew) : small tree, riverside—Tano River, Gold Coast 

 (Chipp, Herb. Kew). ■ 



w ^ 



■ Fipus Barteri, Sprague ; Fl. Trop. Afr. VI. Sect. 2, p. 205. 



Eppah, Onitsha (Barter), Bonny (Kalbreyer), Old Calabar 

 (Holland) in Nigeria, and known also from Liberia, Dahomey^ 

 Spanish Guinea and Belgian Congo. 



Fruits edible— orange coloured, Eppah (Barter, No. 3311, 

 Herb. Kew: Sprague, Gard. Chron. June, 6th, 1903, p. 354); 

 liroduces good rubber according to Sim, Liberia (Johnston, 

 Liberia, ii. p. 652) ; but probably the plant is of more value for 

 . decorative purposes for which the long narrow acute leaves by 

 comparison with those of larger foliage, eminently fit it. 



A small shrub, 8 ft. in wet places, Eppah (Barter, Herb. 

 Kew), found as an epiphyte or as recorded by Kalbreyer (No. 79, 

 Herb. Kew) a half tree 15-25 ft. high, at Bonny. 



Ficus capensis, Thnnb. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. VI. Sect. 2, p. 101. 



III— Hook. Lond. Journ. Bot. vii. 1848, t. 3, f. B {Sycomorus 

 capensis): t. 14 f. A {8. Thonningii) ; t B {S. guineeyisis) \ 

 Warburg & De Wildeman, Ficus Fl. Congo, t. 6 {F. eruhescens) ; 

 t. 17 (i^. Munsae). 



Vernac. nntnes .—Opoto (Lagos, Dodd, Macgregor, Datvodu); 

 Opoto (Ilorin, Millson) ; Awkpawtaw (Yoruba, Millson) ; Beru 

 (Katagum, Dalziel); Uwar Yara (Hausa-Kano, Katagum, 

 Abinsi, Dalziel) ; M'Koongen or M'Kookoo (Madi, Grant) : Gass^, 



Ngab (Bahr-el-Ghazal, Sudan, Broun). 



Lagos, Ilorin, Katagum 

 Upper Guinea from Seneea 



also found 



in the French Congo, Belgian Congo, Angola, Uganda, East 

 Africa, Zanzibar, Rhodesia, South Africa and Cape Verde Islands. 

 Figs edible (Dalziel, Hausa Bot. Voc. p. 99); used as an 

 article of food in a raw state, flavour agreeable and almost equal 

 to ordinary fig, yellow when ripe, very plentiful but not cultivated 

 (Mllson, Kew Bull. 1891, p. 219); eaten by the natives and 

 colonial travellers, juicy, taste not unpleasant but a little wateryr, 

 the skin resinous and very bitter, yellow-red when ripe (Hiern, 

 Cat. Welw. Afr. PI. i. p. 1012, F. Sycomorus and vars.); green 

 pigeons are fond of the figs, Madi (Speke & Grant, Herb. Kew) •; 



Kew 



J 2 



