THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 303 
Lonchocarpus sp. Mamu Lonchocarpus. 
Found in the Mamu Forest. 
Lonchocarpus cyanescens. Yoruba Indigo. Elu or Ela (Yoruba). 
This is one of the intermediate forest climbing shrubs, 
but has been cultivated throughout, the country. 
Uses.—The well-known Yoruba blue dye is made from the 
leaves. The stem is sometimes used for house-building posts. 
It is a shade-bearing, soil-improving tree. Natural regeneration 
appears to be poor. 
Cesalpina Bonducella. Shayo (Yoruba). 
The bean of this creeper is used in games amongst the 
Yoruba boys. 
Mundulia suberosa (Benth.). Lakuta (Yoruba); Ugbehen (Benin). 
It is rather an uncommon tree, found in the Olokemeji 
Reserve of the Abeokuta province of Nigeria. It is a small 
tree, a part of which is used for killing fish. 
Indigofera hirsuta. Indigo. Epa ile (Yoruba). 
It is found in the Mamu Reserve of the Ibadan province 
of Nigeria. 
Indigofera stenophylla. Indigo. Aro Boro (Yoruba). 
It is found in the Olokemeji Reserve of the Abeokuta 
province of Nigeria. 
~ Pentaclethra macrophylla. The Oil Bean. Apara (Yoruba) ; Opagga, 
- Ukpagga (Benin); Ataka (Ibo, Asaba) ; Opochala (Ibo, Niger). 
It is a large-sized tree, reaching a girth of about 12 feet 
and a bole length of 40 feet. The root spurns are very extensive 
and often reach 4 or 5 feet up the stem, thus quite breaking 
up the base of the bole. The bark at first is a light yellow- 
brown, darkening in old age to a deep brown, and scaling off 
somewhat. 
Chief Characteristics.—It has dense foliage and a heavy, 
branched crown, and very flat pods about 1 foot long and up 
to 24 inches broad, containing seven or eight large, flat brown 
beans about 1 inch in diameter and } inch thick. The pods 
open with a loud report not unlike the sound of a 12-bore gun. 
Distribution.—It is found in the. Lower Province of Nigeria, 
near the watercourses outside Abeokuta, Jebu, Ode, Benin, 
Onitsha, Owerri, Calabar and Ogoja. 
Silvicultural Qualities—The tree grows readily from self- 
sown or artificially sown beans, as is seen in the Avenue at 
Benin City, which was sown at stake in 1904. It bears pods 
in the twelfth year in the open, but later in the forest. It 
is usually very prolific, bearing at least some pods every year. 
The bole is not always very straight, and it has a distinct 
tendency to form strong side branches, and the crown is there- 
