30 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
timber has an open, pretty grain. It is one of the trees which comes 
up in old farms, provided rainfall is moderate. 
14. Satinwood (Zanthorylum macrophyllum) is a medium-sized 
tree with a clear bole of 30 feet, combined with a narrow crown and 
small branches. It is a very common tree in the peninsular forest, 
and it is also found growing up in the old farms, where the rainfall 
is adequate (60 inches). The wood is the typical light-yellow colour. 
The grain of the timber is very fine and hard, which makes it less 
liable to shrink than other more open-grained woods. The heartwood 
forms early, though where trees grow up very quickly, roughly only 
half of the diameter width of a tree is made of heartwood. That is 
to say, in a tree a foot in diameter, approximately 6 inches will be 
heartwood. In the evergreen forest there is another species of 
Zanthoxylum which attains a rather larger size than the first named. 
It is, however, not quite so prevalent as the other species. In common 
with other species of Zanthoxylum, it bears all round the stem extremely 
large woody spines. In this species the spiny protuberances are exactly 
like small round cones of wood, with a diameter 2 inches at the 
base. Yet a third species of Zanthorylum Senegalense yields a similar 
satinwood, almost as close grained, which, however, is found growing 
as a small tree at the edge of the deciduous forest before the dry- 
zone belt is reached. This tree is characterised by its much smaller 
leaf, with pinnze broader in proportion to their length than the 
former species. In a similar manner the woody protrusions on the 
stem do not project more than three-quarters of an inch from it, 
compared to those of the second-named species, which attain a length 
of 3 inches. The timber of this dry-zone Satinwood is just as valuable 
as the former species. It is fairly prevalent in the more open forest 
where it is found. It withstands the annual grass fires to some extent, 
and seedlings appear in the neighbourhood of mature trees. 
15. Violetwood is a medium-sized tree with a smooth bark not 
unlike beech, and a bole of up to 20 feet in length and 12 feet in girth. 
It is, however, a little crooked in growth, but this is not an undesir- 
able feature, because the texture of the grain often thus becomes 
figured. Specimens which were collected showed this growth, and 
a few species had a very pretty figured grain. It is quite a common 
tree in the peninsular forest. The fruit of this tree is a pod about 
a foot long and an inch wide, containing on the average eight oblong 
flattish beans. The wood is of a greenish-brown colour, and is very 
hard, heavy and durable, judging by the timber of fallen trees. The 
timber when planed has a scent of violets, hence the English name 
which I have given to it. The tree has not been cut for use as an 
export timber, though it is well worth a trial. It is not used locally, 
so that all available supplies of timber could be used for export. 
16. Pterocarpus erinaceus (African Rosewood) is a small tree of 
