402 
WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
In habit it usually takes more of the shape and form of 
a shrub rather than a tree, though where it is protected a longish 
main leader grows up, but even this droops. It rarely 
attains a height of more than 15 feet and a girth at the base 
of about 18 inches. The leaf is large and oval, opposite, and 
rather leathery to the touch. The fruit is not unlike a peach, 
except that its surface is not smooth, but is pitted in small 
depressions, giving it a more special peach colour. The flesh is 
very woody and tough, interspersed with small seeds not unlike 
those of the strawberry. When ripe the birds eat them. The 
roots are of a yellowish-brown, especially when the cortex is 
rubbed. The slash is yellow. The leaf is very shiny. 
It does not really reach timber size, but the sapwood is a 
light yellow and the heartwood a darker yellow. 
It is a moderately quick growing, light-demanding, soil- 
protecting and soil-improving tree. Natural regeneration is 
poor, but reproduction by root suckers and stool shoots is very 
strong. It is very fire-resisting, and recovers easily from any 
effects of fire. 
Native Use.—In cases of scarcity of building-timber, occa- 
sionally short sections are obtained from it for hut-building. It 
is, however, usually too short. The roots are used medicinally 
in the following way: roots about a } inch in diameter 
and upwards to ? inch are thoroughly washed in water 
and cut up into sections of about 4 inches long and boiled in 
water. The solution thus made is strained off, and is drunk 
either hot or cold in fairly large doses for the relief of venereal 
disease (G.) in its earlier stages. Most of the natives affirm 
that it gives great relief, though they acknowledge that it 
does not prove a cure for it. 
Sarcocephalus esculentus. Weatherboard Wood. Opepe (Yoruba) ; 
Obiache (Benin) ; Awessu (Jekri). 
It is found in the Abeokuta, Ondo, Benin and Calabar 
provinces of Nigeria, where in certain localities it is very 
prevalent. 
It is a large tree of the evergreen forest zone, which attains 
a girth of 12 feet and a corresponding bole length. The bark 
is slightly rough and scaly, but in an even manner. It bears 
a large edible fruit 2 inches in diameter. The fruit is not un- 
like a peach in shape and colour, but with a rougher and softer 
skin. It is very closely and finely pitted with tiny holes in 
its surface. Inside, the flesh is pinkish-white. It is commonly 
seen at the edge of freshwater swamps in the Benin, Ifon and 
Ondo districts. It likes soil with good drainage, but it may 
be very moist. 
