737 



Vernac, names, — Digumbe (Angola, Adam) ; Votchi (Dahomey, 

 Adam, Beccari) ; shell-less or soft nut (Gold Coast, Beccari). 



Not recorded from Nigeria. 



var. idolatrica, Chev. I.e. p. 57 {E. DybowsH, Hua, Bull 

 Mus. i. (1895); £J. Thompsonii, Chev, Govt. Gaz. S. Nigeria, 

 July 14, 1909. Suppl. p. 25; E, guineensis, var. Thompsoiiiiy 

 in Farquhar, ''Oil Palm" (1912) p. 4). Fruits large, pericarp 

 ferick red, nut hard, with 4 or more cores in the endocarp, leaflets 

 joined at the base (Kew Bull. 1909, p. 39). 



Vernac. 7ia77ies. — Ope Ifa (Yoruba, Thompson, Unwin, 

 Dawodii) ; Ogiedi, Ogedudin (Benin, Umvin, Beccari) ; Abe- 



'Ohene {Gold Coast. Eranf^. Tipernri\ • 



Adam) ; the King 



Fade, Agoude (Dahomey, 



This appears everywhere to be regarded as a sacred tree; 

 the oil is used in medicine (I.e. p. 46), as " holy oil " in Dahomey 

 XSavariau, I.e. p- 41), and although not over plentiful it seems 

 to be more common in S. Nigeria than elsewhere, it is said to be 

 quite common in the vicinity of Lagos and appears to favour the 



country bordering 



it gets 



scarcer towards the Hinterland (hep. 35); sparsely distributed 

 in the Benin district (Unwin, I.e. p. 36) exceedingly scarce in 

 the Gold Coast (I.e. p. 40) and in general the chief recommendation 

 i;\'-ould seem to be for decorative purposes. On the examination 

 of samples at the Imperial Institute it has been found to give a 

 low yield of palm oil and kernels (Farquhar & Thompson, 

 '' OU Palm " (1913), p. 6). 



var. macrocarya, Becc. I.e. p. 71. 



Niger (Barter, No. 303, Herb. Kew; Mus. Kew, 1859). 



var, Poissonit A. Chev. Bull. Agric. Inst. Sci. Saigon, i, 1919, 

 p. 154 [J&. guineensis, sub — sp. nigrescens^ var. Poissonii^ A. Chev. 

 I.e.; E. Toissonii, Annet, Congres Agric. Col. Paris, May 24, 

 1918; Janssens in Bull. Agric. Congo Beige, ix. 1918, p. 225; 

 E. guineensis, var., C. H. Wright in Kew Bull. 1913, 92-3 with 

 j6g. of fruit. E. guineensis var., diivakkawaJcka, Biich. and Fick. 

 .Die Olpalme (1919), p. 26, t. vi. f. 10-fruit.]. 



Fruit obovoid or subglobose, about 3 cm. long (not including 

 the 1 cm. -long beak) and somewhat constricted at the base, 

 Jiot ventricose as in some varieties, endocarp sclerenchymatous, 

 -about 3 mm. thick; perianth accrescent, fleshy, almost enclosing 

 -the fruit, its segments have a transverse thickening about 5 mm. 

 from their apices (Kew Bull. I.e.). 



Vernac. numes. — Ayara Mbana, Ayara Buvana (Eifik, Old 

 Calabar, Johnson, Wright) \ Klude or Klode (Togoland, Gruner, 

 Wright) ; Agode (Togoland, Gruner) ; Vuakania, Nagazi ya 

 jnahele, Basatum (Congo, Janssens, Wright) ; Diwakkawakka or 

 X)i-Ouaka-Ouaka (Cameroons, Bvcher and FicJcendey). 



An analysis at the Imperial Institute shows the fleshy perianth 

 to contain 69-9 per cent, of oil equivalent to 14-8 per cent, on 



fruit 



Fruit 



kis received contained 42 per cent, of oil, viz., 14-8 in the outer 



