634 



Ficus Vogelii, 3Iiq, ; Fl. Trop. Afr, VI. Sect. 2, p. 179. 



/W.— Christy, New Comm. PL & Drugs, No. 2, 1898, p, 10 

 {Urostigma Vogelii); Schlechter, Westafr. Kautsch. Exp. p. 11; 

 Yves Heniy, Caoutchouc Afr. Occid. Franc, t. 1 (habit) ; Notizbl. 

 Bot. Gart. BerHn, v. 1908, t. 1; App. xxii. 1909, p. 75, f. 34; 

 Johnston, Liberia, ii. t. 264 : Engl. & Drude, Veg. Erde, ix. 

 p, 683, f, 581; Dudgeon, Agric. & Forest Prod. W. Africa, p. 3 

 (habit). 



Vernac. names, — Abba (Lagos, Moloney, 3Iillson) ; Awaiyo 

 (Hausa; Lamb, Foster) ; Obada (Yoruba, Foster) ; Ogbogbo 

 (Bassa, Elliott) ; Akbaha, Tora (Sierra Leone, Scott Elliot) ; 

 Gongwi — the tree, Sawar — the rubber (Sierra Leone, Lane Poole) ; 

 Dob (F. W- Africa, Yves Henry, Chevalier) ; Memeluku (Gold 

 Coast, Tudhope) ; Nyedua (Gold Coast, Armitage) ; Manjedua 

 (Gold Coast, Chipp) ; Taba-nika-samu (Hausa, Dalziel) ; Kobbo 

 ^(Mandingo, Dudgeon) ; Kobooule (French Guinea, Poheguin), 

 Memeluku Rubber. 



Lagos, Old Calabar, Cross River, Engenni River, Nun River, 

 in S. Nigeria ; Bassa in N. Nigeria and also commonly found in 

 Upper Guinea from Senegal to the Cameroons, extending to the 



Belgian Congo. 



This Fidus has for a long period been known as the source of an 

 inferior grade of rubber from Lagos and West Africa in general, 

 sometimes called " balata " in the trade ; the poor quahty is 

 due to B-'large proportion of resin. Bought on the Niger (1911) 

 at about \s. 3cZ. per lb. (Foster, Nig. Trees & PI. p. 63). A 

 sample of block *' balata " from the Bauchi Province, N. Nigeria 

 was found to contain equal proportions of caoutchouc and resin 

 and was valued (1911) at l5. %d. per lb. in Liverpool, when it was 

 reported^ there i? a good market in the United Kingdom for 

 block " balata " of this kind and consignments can be sold at 

 almost any time. The sample in question was found to corre- 

 spond in composition with the product of Ficus Vogelii from the 

 Gambia and the Gold Coast (Col. Rep. Ann. No. 738, 1912 (for 

 1911) *VN. Nigeria," p. 31; Misc. No. 82, 1912, p. 347), where 

 (Gold Coast) it should be mentioned the estabHshment of a 

 market in " Memeluku Rubber " was in 1908 considered doubtful 

 (Ann. Rep. Dept. Agric. Gold Coast, 1908, p, 10; Col. Rep. 

 Alisc. i.e. p, 347). 



On a specimen in the Herbarium at Kew (Lane Poole) from 

 Sierra Leone the rubber is stated to be " of httle value and is 

 used as an adulterant of Landolphia and Funtumia rubber." 



The latex is coagulated by heating (I.e.) and " on account of' 

 its many branches it is a difficult tree to tap ; the Natives (Gold 

 Coast) usually cut the tree down and then channel the trunk 

 and branches, repeating the process after an interval of eight 

 days ; an average Nyedua tree will yield four or more double 

 gin flasks of juice; a large tree yields eight double gin flasks of 

 rubber on the first tapping and four on the second " (Armitage, 

 Report Rubber Trees and Vines, End. in Letter, Col. Office to 



