640 



Pflan. Moraceae, tt. 12-13 & 14 f. B ; De Wildeman & Durand, 

 111. Fl. Congo, t. 70 {T. Dewevrei) ; Engl. & Drude, Veg. Erde, 

 ix. p. 657, f. 570. : 



Vernac. names, — Ogua (Onitsha, Barter) ; Ogue (Eboe, 

 Barter) ; Afon (Oloke-Meji, Foster) ; Affon (Yoruba, Millson) ; 

 Okwa or Ocua (Senegambia, Welivitsch) ; Oqua (Kroo, Vogel) ; 

 [Dizanba (Golungo Alto), Isa, Isaqiiente, Quicange (St. Thomas) 

 Amendoas de Disanha (Portuguese) Welwitsch]. — African Bread 

 Fruit. 



■ 



^ Lagos, Onitsha, Oloke-Meji, and also found in Senegambia, 

 Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cameroons, Gaboon, Angola, Belgian 

 iDoiigo, Nile Land and Nyasaland. 



The fruit is remarkable for its size — weighing 18-30 lb., the 

 seeds of which about the size of haricot beans are ground and 

 used as meal. Lower Niger (Barter, Herb. & Mus. Kew) ; 

 the fruits are stated to be x^oisonous to horses (Foster, Herb. 

 Kew, No. 1.50, 1907 ; Kew Bull. 1894, p. 360), sheep and goats, 

 but are the favourite food of elephants. 



For use as food the fruits are placed in heaps and fermented, 

 the seeds afterwards gathered, ground into a paste and cooked, 

 by frying in palm-oil (Kew Bull. l.c, T. affona). Investigations 

 made on the leaves and fruit, at the Imperial Institute do not 

 bear out the opinion as to the tree being poisonous to animals 

 (Bull. Imp. Inst. 1915, pp. 64-65). Welwitsch has estimated 

 that there are 1500 seeds — as large as those of Pinus Pinea, 

 Linn, the " Stone Pine " [Welwitsch probably used this com- 

 parison because the seeds of the " Stone Pine " are commonly 

 sold in the markets of Lisbon for food] and not dissimilar in 

 taste, sometimes boiled, sometimes roasted or prepared like 

 sweet-meats and eaten by the Negroes and the Colonists, 

 Golungo Alto, Angola : and a kind of " Almond milk " is also 

 made from them, a refreshing drink in hot countries and during 

 fever (Hiern, Cat. Welw, Afr. PI. i, p. 1023). 



A tree upwards of 80 ft. high, trunk 1-2 ft. in diam. at the 



base. 



Myrianthu 



Myrlanthus arboreus 



Afr 



p. 231. 



///.— Pal. de Beauv. Fl. Oware & Benin, i. t. 11; Engl. 

 Monogr. Afr. Pflan. Moraceae, t. 16, p. 39, f. 3 (wood structure), 



Vernac. names. — Ibishere (Yoruba, Millson)', Ihege (Benin, 

 Thompson, Unwin) ; Sakpachi (Lapai, N. Nigeria, Yates) ; 

 Ndisok (Old Calabar, Holland)-, Fofui or Fofoi (Sierra Leone, 

 Lane Poole, Scott Elliot) : Yankoma (Ashanti, Chipp) ; Musibiri, 

 Musuviri or Musabiri (Golungo Alto, Welwitsch) ; Pernambuco 

 (Pungo Andongo, Welivitsch). 

 , Yoruba, Benin, Cross River, Old Calabar, Onitsha, in S. 



Nigeria; Lapai, N. Nigeria and widely distributed in West 

 Africa — Sierra Leone to the Cameroons ; in the Gaboon, Angola, 



Uganda, Belgian Congo and East Africa. 



