824 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
the Ondo, Benin, Calabar and Ogoja provinces of Nigeria. 
It is one of the most common mahoganies of the forest, 
above the top of the buttresses, and one which showed 
437 rings of growth had a girth of 52 feet, measured at 
20 feet above the ground. This one, too, yielded 15 logs of 
various sizes. 
The leaves are rather smaller and show the ribs rather 
more prominently than in Z. cylindrica, but the growth, which 
is in tufts, is similar. It is deciduous for about three weeks 
in the year, in November, when inconspicuous flowers first 
appear and then the leaves. The capsule is about 3 inches 
long and nearly 1 inch in diameter. It is of the usual pen- 
tagonal shape, and there are five seeds, placed one over the 
other on each side of the central pentagonal core. The seeds 
are nearly square in shape, with a rounded back about an eighth 
of an inch thick. The wings are four times the length of the 
seed, making each about 24 inches long. The seeds lose their 
germinative power in about three weeks, and are always 
attacked by a small boring insect. 
The bole has comparatively slight root spurns, which ter- 
minate at about a maximum height of 20 feet from the ground. 
It is very straight, and may attain a height of 90 feet. The 
stem is, however, much more pitted than that of E. cylindrica. 
The bark is of a green to grey colour, very reminiscent at 
times of a beech-tree, especially at a distance. The crown 
is flatly spherical, being composed of a few very large limbs. 
The slash is white and brown; the sapwood is white and the 
heartwood of a red-brown colour, with a very strong cedar- 
wood scent when freshly cut. Even when the wood is seasoned 
and freshly planed, this scent is very noticeable. It saws and 
splits easily, planes up moderately, and takes nails fairly easily. 
It is not termite-proof, but the most common attack is 
by a lymexylon, if the logs are left lying unsquared in the 
forests. Many figured logs have been obtained from this 
species of tree. In the younger stages, the sapwood is 
comparatively wide. Natural regeneration is very good in 
some places. The tree grows very rapidly indeed. In its youth 
it stands a certain amount of shade, but later on it is a light- 
loving tree. It is a soil-protecting and soil-improving tree. 
Isolated trees have been planted and small plantations made 
in various parts of the country. Planted under proper con- 
ditions and with favourable seasons, an average growth of 
6 feet in height may be expected. The young trees are occa- 
