256 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
the witches, who are supposed to hold their court in the Iroko 
tree and try to catch one of the sons of the chief. 
Treculia Africana (Dene). African Breadfruit. Afon (Yoruba) ; 
Ije (Benin) ; Ijeni (fruit). 
This tree is usually found near the edge of the villages of 
the Calabar, Benin, Ondo and Abeokuta provinces of Nigeria. 
It grows to a large size, with a bole length of 20 feet and 
a girth of 9 feet, but it is usually a rather open-crowned, 
spreading tree. For its size the foliage is not over-dense. 
The leaves are single and roughly lanceolate, with a dark-green 
and rather shiny upper surface. The most conspicuous feature 
of this tree is the huge green, perfectly spherical-shaped fruit. 
Immature fruits of all sizes, from a cricket-ball upwards to 
a size of 18 inches in diameter, are seen growing close against 
the stem of the trunk and bigger branches of the tree. Some 
years ago, one of these ripe fruits fell off a tree at the edge 
of the Benin market and struck a woman on the shoulder 
with such force that she died a few days later. The natives 
subsequently cut the tree down. 
The chief use of the tree is the fruit, which is placed in 
water to rot so that the seeds can be more easily extracted 
from the concentrically arranged fibres growing from the centre 
of the fruit outwards to the periphery. These are subsequently 
cooked and eaten, often being beaten up in a soup. From 
the outside the fruit looks as if it were made up of thousands 
of little green fibres closely packed together from the centre 
of the fruit, with the ends sticking out on the surface, thus 
giving it a rough feeling to the touch and making it appear 
as if it were full of holes. 
The junction of a branch with the stem shows a large 
swelling all round the base of the branch, which thins out to 
its regular size about 6 to 9 inches away from the trunk. 
The tree is comparatively slow-growing, but of a soil- 
protecting and light-loving nature. In the dry season, great 
quantities of dew condense on this tree, so that underneath 
the soil is kept moist. Probably more dew falls on this tree 
than Myrianthus arboreus, which shows a similar feature. 
Thus far the wood has not been used for any purpose. 
Treculia sp. Small-fruited African Breadfruit. Izenagan (Benin). 
Found in the Benin province, 
Morus sp. Aye (Yoruba). 
It is found in the Olokemeji Reserve of the Abeokuta 
province in Nigeria. 
Myrianthus arboreus. Shapo Obibere (Yoruba); Ihege (Benin). 
It is a small to medium-sized tree, with short stem rarely 
