630 



! Ficus ovata, VaJd ; El. Trop. Afr. VI. Sect. 2, p. 164. 



111. — Johnston, Liberia, ii, p. 652, t. 265 [F, Joknstonii). 



Vernac. names.— Gamji (Hausa, Lamb) ; Ditondo (Angola 

 &c. Buchner) ; Nserere (Cent. Africa, Mildbraed). 



Bassa Province, N. Nigeria, and in Upper Guinea from 

 Senegambia to the Cameroons, LoAver Guinea, Nile Land, 

 Belgian Congo and Mozambique District. 



Yields an inferior bark-cloth (Mildbraed, Fl. Trop. Afr, I.e.) 

 "supposed, to yield rubber" (Johnston, I.e.) and described as 

 " a rubber tree about 8 ft., on the Sugar Loaf," Sierra Leone 

 (Scott ElHot, Herb. Kew). 



A large tree with a very broad crown (Fl. Trop. Afr. I.e.) 

 and therefore suggested as a shade tree. 



Ficus platyphylla, Detile; Fl. Trop. Afr. VI. Sect. 2, p. 197. 



IlL — ^Miquel, Afr, Vigge-Boomen, t. 4, f* B {Urostigma 

 Kotschyanum) . 



-Vernac. names. — Ganji or Gamji (Katagum, Kano, Dalziel); 

 Ogbagba (Yoruba, Dudgeon) ; Danko Gawi (Kano, Dudgeon) ; 

 Imkoo (Madi, Grant) ; KiU (Sudan, Bull. Imp. Inst. 1911, p. 206) ; 

 Kwell, Fungo, Kubo (Bahr-el-Ghazal, Sudan, Col. Rep. Misc. 

 No. 82, 1912, p. 354),— Flake or Red Kano Rubber, Niger Gutta. 

 Yoruba, Katagum, Bornu, in Nigeria and also knoAvn from 

 Senegambia, Gambia, Gold Coast, Togoland, Cameroons, Nubia, 



Sudan, and Uganda. 



The source of ** Kano Rubber" or '' Ballata " [so-called] of 

 the Trade, Yoruba (Dudgeon, No. 65, 1907,. Herb. Kew) ; strong 

 milky juice which coagulated, yields a product similar to 

 caoutchouc, Bornu (Vogel, No. 73, Herb, Kew). A sample of 

 f* Niger Gutta," from a consignment bought in Lagos at 4|^- 

 per lb. — ^from Katsena, N. Nigeria, examined in England was 

 found to be reddish-brown, hard and to contain 80 per cent, of 

 resin and 12 per cent, inferior caoutchouc, used by certain rubber 

 manufacturers in special mixtures ; but this gutta is not usually 

 sold in the open market and the demand is Hmited (Col. Rep, 

 Misc. No. 82, 1912, p. 352). A sample from the Gambia, 

 submitted by the Colonial Office to Kew in July 1902 was 

 reported on by a London Firm, who stated our Liverpool 

 House reports that this is known as ** Red Gambia," which from 

 1897 to 1899 arrived in moderate quantities and was at first 

 readily bought by manufacturers at about Is. lOrf. per lb. ; 

 later, however, it was found unsatisfactory and the price went 

 down to as low as 8d. and finally supplies entirely ceased; 

 Importers say it will not pay to import unless it mil fetch 

 Is. 2d.~ls. Zd, which judging from past experience is more than 

 its value (Mus. Kew). *' Ogbagba " rubber in Nupe is prepared 

 by boiling to the consistency of a hardened paste, similar to 

 the gutta made from the latex of the *' Shea Butter '■ tree 

 (Buiyrospermum ParTcii — see p. 410) (Dudgeon, Agric. & For. 



