346 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
Native Use.—The Kapok is used for stuffing pillows, for 
which ls. apiece is charged. Large oblong pieces of the root 
buttresses are used as native doors and as drying slabs for 
fresh dyed clothes. Whenever timber fails it is used for fishing 
canoes (the cheapest kind). 
Eriodendron anfractuosum. Cotton Tree, similar to Orientale. 
Araba Eggun (Yoruba); Okha (Benin); Shakka (Brass). 
Was determined from Western Province material, but it 
is doubtful whether it is a different species from that found 
in other parts of Nigeria. 
Bombazx reflecum. Red-flowering Cotton Tree. Ponpola, Lauro 
(Ibadan, Yoruba); Obokha (Benin); Onihokha, Benin (when 
in flower) ; Titiro (Egbado). 
It is found in the Abeokuta, Ondo, Benin, Owerri and Ogoja 
provinces of Nigeria, where it is often seen in the mixed forests 
and in clearings in the evergreen forest zone. 
Chief Characteristics.—It has a larger leaf and thorns than 
the other Buonopozense (?) (Onikokha of Benin). The most 
typical feature is the very thick, tulip-like red flower of this 
tree. This falls to the ground, and is seen on roadways and 
pathways, indicating the presence of this tree. In February 
or March, when the flowers appear, the tree is bare, so that 
the bright-red flowers make it all the more striking. The tree 
is smaller than the Eriodendron Orientale, attaining a girth 
of about 12 feet and a bole length of 50 feet. The root spurns 
are much slighter, in most cases scarcely amounting to small 
buttresses. The cortex is more soft and spongy than £. 
Orientale. 
The timber is white, very soft, not quite so tough nor fibrous 
as E. Orientale, but rather more porous. It planes more easily, 
dries rather better, splits with less difficulty than Z. Orientale, 
and saws with less trouble. 
It is a very fast-growing, light-loving tree, which does not 
protect or enrich the soil very much with its leaf fall. Natural 
regeneration appears to be fair, though, considering the enor- 
mous number of flowers almost each year, it is surprising 
that the tree does not spread more rapidly in new clearings 
in the forest. 
The timber has not been tried for export nor for local use. 
The bark, roots and leaves are used amongst the Yorubas 
for medicinal purposes. The bush deer eat the flowers, when 
they fall: the Benin native says if he does not call the tree 
Onihokha, the deer will not come and eat it. 
Bombaz sp.?, Bombax buonopozense ?. Ponponla (Ibadan, Yoruba) ; 
Obokha, Onihokha (Benin). 
