840 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
handles, and this tree is esteemed by the blacksmith for making 
charcoal. It is also cut into planks. 
Anacardia sp. Rat Poison Mango. Akkum (Yoruba); Pweku 
Pweku, Azemome (Benin). 
The Benin native name means literally ‘‘ Rat-kill, rat-kill,” 
but I have never been able to discover exactly how the 
poison is used. It is rather a rare tree of the Benin forest 
of the Benin province. It reaches a height of about 80 feet 
and a girth of 9 feet. It bears a large fruit about the size 
and shape of a good mango. This is certainly one of the best 
fruits of the native trees. It has a much sweeter scent than 
that of the mango, and the taste is also much sweeter. 
From experiments made it is not poisonous to chickens, goats 
nor sheep, but none of them, except the chickens, took it 
at all willingly. The fruit is said to be very poisonous to 
man, but its delicious flavour tempts the tasting of it. Cer- 
tainly, in very small quantities it is not poisonous, and it 
would be interesting to know in what quantities it isso. The 
slash is yellowish-white. The sapwood is white and the heart- 
wood of a dull brown colour. It is a hard and heavy wood. 
It saws with difficulty. It is a shade-bearing and _ soil- 
protecting tree. The natural reproduction appears to be poor. 
The timber has not been used locally, nor has it been sampled 
for export. 
Celastracee. 
Gymnosporia Senegalensis. Shepolo-hun (Yoruba). 
It is found in the Olokemeji Reserve of the Abeokuta 
province of Nigeria. 
Icacinacee. 
Pyrenacantha sp. nov. Abara (Yoruba). 
It is found in the Epe Colony of Lagos, Nigeria. 
Sapindacee. 
Lecaniodiscus cupanoides. Akika. Aka-Ishin (Yoruba) ; Utan-tan 
(Benin). 
It is found in the Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ondo, Warri, Ogoja 
and Calabar provinces of Nigeria. It is a small, shrub-like 
tree, reaching a girth of about 1 foot and a height of 15 feet. 
The leaves are very small, the timber extremely hard and 
cross-grained. The wood is used by the natives for rafters, 
hoe-handles and sometimes mortar-pestles ; the root is said 
to have medicinal properties. 
