THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 237 
even the Coconut Palm. In fact, an isolated specimen growing 
well could be not unfavourably compared to the Royal Palm 
in the grandeur of its spread of Jeaf and the beauty of the 
outward-spreading, fan-shaped bold crown. Both the male 
and the female flowers are very conspicuous. The bunches 
of fruit, up to 3 feet in length, hang down like enormous 
elongated bunches of yellow grapes. The nuts are covered 
with a smooth yellow hard skin, set in scales very similar to 
those of a cone, except that each scale is tightly joined to the 
next. When the fruit decays, or is boiled, the scales come 
off as well as the yellow, fibrous matter, which gives a yellowish 
tinge to the water. The main difference between the base 
of the Oil Palm and that of the leaf of this tree is the extension 
of it more than half round the bole in the case of R. vinifera, 
and also flatly and smoothly down the stem. On the 
other hand, in the Qil Palm the leaf grows more abruptly 
out of and away from the stem. Owing to the Tombo Palm 
stem being smaller (on the average only 9 inches in diameter), 
the base of the frond extends nearly all round the tree, the 
lower one overlapping the higher one, and each placed 
in revolving fashion round the trunk, one above the other. 
The leaf scars of the Oil Palm are much smaller. Owing to 
the greater length of the leaf of this palm, the crown does not 
appear to be such a tuft of leaves at the top of the tree as in 
the case of the Oil Palm. In old age it appears more as a 
cylindrical mass of leaves occupying the upper half or third 
of the tree. 
The timber is more fibrous and soft than that of the Oil 
Palm. The fibres, however, are dark brown, almost black when 
very wet or after they have lain in water for any length of time. 
On the whole the tree is slow-growing, even slower than 
the Oil Palm. It stands a good deal of shade in the earlier 
stages, but later on is apparently a light-demanding tree. It 
grows in freshwater swamps and at the edges of such places. 
Although it thrives best in certain localities, it can be planted 
and does grow on solid and comparatively dry land near 
Calabar. In the Calabar province they are often planted as 
an avenue leading up from the main road through the farm 
to the house. It will stand floods. Natural regeneration is 
good, and with the spread of propagation it tends to be more 
widely distributed. In the Calabar and Ogoja provinces seeds 
were distributed to the natives for planting for the production 
of palm wine to take the place of that obtained from the Oil 
Palm. The timber has not been used for export, nor has it 
been cut for local use. The leaf stalks, however, have been 
