366 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
only a quarter of an inch in size; it is most frequently seen 
lying scattered about in patches on the path or roadway, 
giving out a very sweet scent. The seeds are double winged, 
like Bougainvillea. The leaf is smaller than that of the Ter- 
minalia and the foliage generally less dense; the sapwood is 
white and somewhat wide, the heartwood of a light-brown 
colour, and on the border-line of being a hardwood. The 
wood is not very durable unless under cover ; it is not very 
common, though where it is found there are a fair number 
of trees which would form a good supply of timber for local 
purposes. The natives do not use this wood, as they say it is 
liable to attacks by white ants. 
Oncoba dentata (Oliv.). Parisha (Yoruba). 
It is found in the Abeokuta province of Nigeria. It is 
a small, shrub-like tree, armed: with moderately long thorns. 
It belongs to the evergreen forest zone. The flowers are 
large, white and conspicuous. 
Oncoba glauca (Foster). Kakandika (Yoruba). 
Found in the Olokemeji and Abeokuta provinces. 
Oncoba spinosa (Rich). Kakandika (Yoruba). 
This is a small, shrub-like tree found in the Abeokuta 
province of Nigeria. It is moderately common, and several 
hedges have been made with it in the Olokemeji Arboretum. 
The most distinguishing feature of this plant is the large, 
spherical-shaped white flowers. The petals are large and con- 
spicuous, with a mass of yellow stamens in the centre. In habit 
it is not unlike the thorn ; the ends of the twigs are armed with 
a short spike. 
It stands trimming pretty well. Each year it flowers 
fairly regularly, so that it makes quite an ornamental plant. 
It bears green fruits with a conspicuous bunch of the old sepals 
at the top. This fruit is rather smaller than a tangerine orange, 
but quite spherical in shape, with a hard, woody rind. 
Flacourtia Ramontchit. Abeokuta Plum. Oshere (Yoruba). 
It is found in the Olokemeji Reserve of the Abeokuta 
province of Nigeria. 
Flacourtia flabescens (Kew). Niger Plum. 
Found in the Western Provinces. 
Uses.—Edible plums, medicine and hedge plants. 
Homalium, cf. H. Africanum (Benth.). Atu or Abo Ako (Yoruba). 
This is a hard-wooded tree of the Yoruba country, which 
is used to some extent locally. It is also found in Benin. 
Being a shade-bearing and soil-protecting tree, it is of 
value in the forest, apart from the production of timber. It 
is a slow-growing tree apparently. 
