352 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
cut and placed under cover, it suffers most severely from the 
attacks of a very small weevil which reduces the wood to a 
fine powder ; it is noticeable that when the timber is entirely 
dry the surface hardens very considerably and it is less liable 
and almost immune from attack. When thoroughly dry the 
wood weighs 35 pounds per cubic foot. 
It is a very rapid-growing, at first slightly shade-bearing and 
of recent years an eminently light-loving tree. It has soil- 
protecting and soil-improving qualities. Natural regeneration 
appears to be very good. Self-sown seedlings show a height- 
growth of over 6 feet per year. It likes a moist soil, which 
need not be very rich, but it: must have considerable depth. 
It is rather liable to be blown by the wind or sometimes broken, 
if in an exposed locality. 
Locally it has been used for boxes and other articles, which 
have proved quite durable ; it has been used as inside planking 
and other interior work, and so long as it is carefully seasoned 
it does not warp very badly; it is probable that it is one of 
those timbers that would yield better results by kiln drying. 
In the Central Circle it has been sawn up as planks for a con- 
siderable time, but they have been attacked to a great extent 
by a small weevil. The local people use the bark for making 
roofs and the wood for doors for their houses. 
In 1906 sample logs of this timber were sold in the Liverpool 
market as Satinwood, but were not considered equal to Anyeran 
(Afrormosia elata). Since that date no more trial shipments 
have been made, so it remains to be seen whether under the 
altered conditions and the pressing demands for timber in 
Europe a market cannot now be found for the vast 
quantities of this timber from Nigeria and other West African 
countries. 
Triplochiton Nigericum. Soft Satinwood. Arere (Yoruba); Kpa 
(Efik). 
It is found in the Abeokuta, Ondo, Owerri and Calabar 
provinces of Nigeria; it is a common tree of the mixed de- 
ciduous forests. One of the distinguishing features of this tree 
are the maple-like leaves. This species has seven lobes to the 
leaf; the leaf itself is softer and almost velvety compared 
to the true maple leaf. The lobes themselves are not quite 
so sharply pointed and the leaf stalk is considerably thicker. 
The fruit also is very much like that of the maple, but is a 
quadruple samara instead of being only a double one. The tree 
is one of the largest of the whole forest, reaching a height under 
favourable conditions of nearly 150 feet; the bole alone may 
reach a height of 90 feet with a girth of over 20 feet. The 
