641 



Leaves used when young for soup^ Yoruba (Millson, Kew Bull. 

 1891, p. 211) ; fruit eat;en, Yoruba, Onitsha (Barter, Herb. Kew) ; 

 edible, acidulous-sweet, Golungo Alto (Hiern, Cat. Welw, Afr. 

 PL i. p. 995). The compound fruit — yellow when ripe is edible 

 so far as the juicy pulp surrounding the numerous seeds; but 

 to get the full benefit from it, to the best of the writer's 

 remembrance, it was necessary to suck each seed separately. 



A tree of spreading habit, 30 ft. high at Onitsha, a small tree 

 in the damp parts of the Yoruba forests (Barter, Herb. Kew); 

 15-20 ft. high, flowering February to March, Lapai, JC. Nigeria 

 (Yates, Herb. Kew) ; a small tree, fruiting in April, Cross River 

 (MacLeod, Herb. Kew), 20-25 ft. high, trunk l|-2 in, in diam. 

 at the base, very elegant, Golungo Alto (Hiern, I.e.). 



Musa:s^ga, R. Br. 



Musanga Smithii, R. Br. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. VI. Sect. 2, p. 239. 



///.—Hook, Ic. PL tt. 1306-1307; Engl. Monogr. Afr. Pfian. 

 Moi'aceae, t, 1*8 ; p. 43, f. 4 (tree y^-^ ^^t. size) ; Thompson, 

 €oL Rep. Misc. No. 66, 1910, t. 24; Engl. & Drude, Veg. Erde, 

 ix. t. 32; p. 660, f. 571. 



Vernac. names. — Aga (Yoruba, Thompson., Foster) ; Uno 

 '(Eifik, Thompson) ; Oro (Brass, Thompson) ; Ogohen (Benin, 

 Unwin, Dennett^ Farqnhar) ; Ote (Aburi, Gold Coast, Johnson) ; 

 Ofika, Gorwi (Sierra Leone, Univin); Ef-a-kar (Sierra Leone^ 

 Clements)', Oeduema (Ashanti, Hiern) \ Gofe or Goffe (St, 

 Thome, Enyler, Welwitsch) ; KiKmbela (Mukenge, Engler) ; Bom- 

 bambo (Belgian Congo, Nihoiil) ; Parasolier;, Assan (Congo, De 

 'Wildeman) ; Kigere (Uganda, J)awe) ; Loho, Amoiya, ParasoHer 

 (liberia, Courtet) ; Combo-Combo (Gabonais, Coiirtet), — Cork 

 'Wood, Umbrella Tree. 



Benin and Lagos, in Nigeria and also found in Sierra Leone, 

 Liberia, Gold Coast, Togoland, Cameroons, Fernando Po, 

 Uganda, Gaboon, Angola, and the Belgian Congo. 



Wood very light; used as cork and called '' Corkwood " by 

 Europeans on the Coast, W. Africa, (Mann, 1861, Mus. Kew); 

 used by the natives for making doors, L^ganda, (Dawe, Report 

 Bot. Miss. Uganda, 1906, p. 57); white, very soft, density 

 0-262, used for light joinery work, Ivory Coast (Comlet, Agric. 

 prat, pays chauds, x. 1, 1910, p. 458); weight 30 lb. per cubic 

 ft. (specimen Mus. Kew, Johnson, Gold Coast), not recommended 

 for shipment (I.e.) suitable for house-building, Island of St. 

 Thome (Hiern, Cat. Welw. Afr. PL i. p. 996) ; poles much used 

 as rafters for native houses, Yoruba, where native hunters 

 sometimes cut the roots to obtain water for drinking (Foster, 

 ^ig. Trees & PI. p. 64). 



A tree 60-80 ft, high, Semliki Forest, Uganda (Dawe, Herb. 

 Kew), 40-80 ft. high, Fernando Po (Mann, Barter, Herb. Kew) ; 

 Common on all old farms, S. Nigeria (Unwin, Govt. Gaz. S. 

 Nigeria, Mar. 30th, 1906, p. 151) ; a very rapid grower and one 



