176 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
to cut the smallest bowl for a game of skittles or bowls. Its very 
yellow small foliage is most distinctive and not unlike box (Buzus 
sempervirens), but the leaf is flatter and does not curl like box. 
One of the most valuable introductions in the forest plantations 
at Olokemeji and in the firewood plantations at Ibadan is the Siamese 
Cassia or Bombay Blackwood (Cassia Siamea). Almost indifferent 
as to soi] and not requiring a heavy rainfall, and casting a heavy shade, 
it soon grows on the laterite, covers the ground, killing weeds, and 
rapidly attaining the size of a tree. In the plantations at Olokeimeji, 
the trees reached a height of over 20 feet and a girth of about a foot 
in five years. It is one of the few trees that will thoroughly kill the 
Econ grass. The masses of yellow flowers which appear in the crown 
of the tree and also in the leader rather interrupt the height growth, 
but make a magnificent show at the end of the dry season. It continues 
to flower and fruit for the larger part of the year. Hither as a firewood 
tree or as a timber tree, it should always be worthy of a place in all 
Afforestation areas where the rainfall is none too heavy. The hard, 
almost black wood is of value in India, so that it should prove of value 
in Nigeria when the trees are large enough for cutting into planks or 
boards. Amongst the exotic trees which have not yet found a place 
is the Trinkomali Wood (Berrya Ommomilla) and Indian Rose 
Chestnut or Ironwood (Mesua ferrua), seedlings which were obtained 
from seeds of the large trees in the Botanical Gardens at Victoria. 
Tf they grow well in Nigeria, the somewhat heavy and flexible Trinko- 
mali Wood or Petwun and the Ironwood should both prove of value 
for local industrial work. 
Although found as specimen trees in the Olokemeji Arboretum, 
Copaifera officinalis has not been formed in plantations, though small 
groups of the West African Gum Copal (Copaifera salicikounda) are 
seen in the Ogba plantation of the Central Circle. Both these trees 
are doing very well, more especially the latter, which have reached a 
height of over 12 feet in six years. The former had produced some 
tears of gum three-quarters of an inch in diameter in the tenth year 
of its growth. In addition to these two, there is the Cameroon Gum 
Copal (Copaifera Demeusit), seedlings of which were obtained from the 
Botanical Gardens at Victoria. Considering that the last-named tree 
is indigenous in a territory so much closer to Nigeria than either of 
the first-named Gum Copals, it is highly probable that this one will 
grow better than either of the others. Up to the present it is not known, 
however, how the yield of the Gum Copal compares with either of the 
former. As far as West Africa is concerned, the Sierra Leone Gum 
Copal has proved to be the most prolific in this respect. 
The Indian Almond (Terminalia catappa) is seen more as an avenue 
tree, mostly in towns such as Lagos, but also in the Mamu Forest 
Reserve. It is certainly one of the best shade trees for planting at 
