CHAPTER IX 
THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 
INDIGENOUS TREES OF NIGERIA 
B. SouTHERN PROVINCES. 
Palme. 
Raphia Hookeriana. Hooker’s Palm or the Piassava Palm. Aiko 
(Yoruba); Iya (Efik); Angor (Benin); Ori (Oban, Ekoi). 
It is found chiefly in the Calabar, Warri, and Ondo provinces 
of Nigeria, mixed with R. vinifera at the edges of estuaries 
and rivers in the evergreen forest zone. 
One of the main differences between this palm and R. vini- 
fera is that the fruit is much shorter (at the most 1} inches 
long and 3 inch in diameter) and more stumpy in shape, coming 
abruptly to a point at the tip. 2. vinifera, on the other hand, 
is much longer, reaching 2} to 3 inches in length and ? inch to an 
inch in diameter, and it is very elliptical in shape. The bunches 
of fruit of this palm, R. Hookeriana, are much smaller, rarely 
exceeding more than a foot in length, and containing 50 to 
75 nuts, whereas R. vinifera may have bunches 3 feet long, 
each containing 500 nuts or more. In the stem, too, this palm is 
smaller, often not reaching more than 6 to 9 inches in diameter, 
with a total height of 20 feet, whereas R. vinifera will reach 
over a foot in diameter and a total height of over 60 feet. 
The natural cleaning of the stem begins much later in this 
palm, and does not reach anything like the height of that of 
R. vinifera. In many specimens, in fact, the stem remains 
always more or less covered with the very upward tending 
branches. In this respect it reminds one a little of R. Ruffia. 
The leaves, however, are more similar to R. vinifera, but only 
about half the size, especially in length ; they are not quite so 
wide, nor are the leaf stalks quite so large. 
The timber is very similar, but more fibrous and of a looser 
texture than that of R. vinifera. It is a little easier to cut. 
In the older specimens the foliage still retains its dark 
green colour compared with the dry, yellowish; hue which 
R. vinifera takes on as it gets older. It is a somewhat slow- 
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