THE NIGERIAN TIMBER TREES 311 
or exported. Locally it has not been used in any form. It 
should be noted, however, that this is a sister tree of the West 
Indian Satinwood, and considering that it grows to a larger 
size than that one, the timber should demand a still higher 
price. 
Use.—In the Benin country the timber is used for making 
door-plates before putting dried clay on the top, and also used 
for doors. 
Zanthoxylum sp. n. Dwarf Satinwood. Boji. 
Chief Characteristices—-The fruit is a mass of red berries 
very similar to the Mountain Ash of Europe, but a small tree 
armed with a few scattered spines of short length, but not 
very woody, more in the nature of thorns. It attains a girth 
of 10 inches and a height of 15 to 20 feet. \ 
DistributionIt was only found on the summit of the 
Boji Hills from an elevation of 4,500 to 5,000 feet, where other 
vegetation gave out and only grass grew otherwise. 
It has a very hard, yellow wood of the usual satiny nature. 
It made very good firewood on the mountain top. 
Zanthorylum sp. (Kew). Pterocarpus sp. African Satinwood. 
Urueben (Benin). 
It is found in the Benin and Ondo provinces of Nigeria. 
It is a common tree near the banks of rivers in the ever- 
green forest. It is of medium-size, reaching a girth of about 
7 feet ; the bole is long (40 feet) ; the root buttresses reach up 
the bole about 3 feet. The stalk has a few prickles, especially 
when it is small, but they disappear in old age. The leaf is 
smaller than P. osun, but much the same as Akume, Pterocarpus 
sp. The habit is typical of a Pterocarpus and not of Zan- 
thoxylum. The bark is quite smooth and always unarmed. 
The fruit is ovoid and flat, with the seed at one end, rather 
different in this respect to Pterocarpus, and without the prickles 
on it. The slash is white, and soon red drops of latex-like 
fluid exude from the tree. The branches are upspreading 
and the crown is large, though narrow, the bole being about 
two-thirds of the total height. 
The sapwood is white and the heartwood is yellow when 
young and dark-red, like P. osun, when old. It is hard, but 
splits well. Termites attack it. It is cross-grained and stands 
a little bending ; otherwise it is brittle, when bent far. 
It is slow-growing and a light-lover. It likes a good soil 
which is moist and has depth. It does not sprout from the 
stool. Seed reproduction is good, and the seedlings are found 
in the neighbourhood of old trees. It is a deciduous tree for 
three months in the year (dry season). 
