274 



III.— Sim, For. Fl. and For. Res. Port. E. Afr. t. 42 ; Engler and 

 Drude, Veg. Erde, ix. p. 425, f. 364 ; p. 600, f. 519 (habit). 



Vernac. names. — Ako (Yoruba, Thompson) ; Okwen (Benin, 

 Thompson) ; Ille Pagini (Sierra Leone, TJnwiri) ; Mupondo (Angola, 

 De Wildeman) ; Panda, Mupanda, or Mupondo (Huilla, Welwitsch) ; 

 Umpanda, Mapondo, Npanda (Congo, De Wildeman) ; M'chenga, or 

 M'nenga (Cent. Afr. Grant) ; M'chenga (Mlanje Plateau, Purves) ; 

 [Tzontzo (Gaza) ; M'tamba (Inhambane) ; Marotta (Quelimane) ; 

 Macarara (Swahili) Sim'] ; Pao Ferro=Iron wood (Port. E. Afr. Sim), 



Oshun River Reserve. 



The bark is used in S. Nigeria for making a coarse native cloth 

 (Thompson, Col. Rep. Misc. No. 51, 1908, p. 4), in Zanzibar for kilts, 

 cloths, band-boxes, grain stores, matches, roofing for camp huts, &c. 

 (Kew Bull. 1892, p. 59), in Zambesia and Port. E. Africa it is the 

 principal sacking material used largely for making bags to convey 

 earth-nuts to the coast, for mealie meal, cassava flour, and various 

 other articles of trade, drums for storing grain, &c, ropes, water- 

 buckets, cradles, beehives, coffins, &c. (Sim, For. Fl. and For. Res. 

 Port. E. Afr. pp. 49, 142). 



" Cloth " is also made from the inner bark by the natives of the 

 Mlanje Plateau (Purves, Herb. Kew). 



The preparation of the bark-cloth is simple and similar to that for 

 Adansonia digitata, p. 86 (q. v.) ; though the bark of Brachystegia 

 remains somewhat rigid after beating, and to make it soft and pliable 

 the women of Port. E. Africa chew the beaten sheets throughout ; 

 for certain purposes — grain drums, water buckets, &c, in parts of 

 Southern Zambesia the bark is neither beaten nor chewed (Sim, For. 

 Fl. and For. Res. Port. E. Afr. p. 142). 



The wood is very hard and heavy (Thompson. I.e.). Used in con- 

 struction on the Congo (De Wildeman, PI. Util. Congo, Art. xxvi. 

 1904, p. 370) ; in all domestic and woodwork construction, Port. E. 

 Africa (Sim, I.e. p. 49). 



The natural regeneration of the tree is said to be prolific (Thomp- 

 son, I.e. p. 12) ; it occurs in the freshwater Swamp Forests of 

 S. Nigeria (I.e. p. 55), and is the most characteristic feature of the 

 forests bordering the Oshun river (I.e. p. 4). It is found in the 

 Robeho Mts., Zanzibar, at an altitude of 4700 ft. (Grant, Trans. Linn. 

 Soc. xxix. p. 66)^ and as a small branching tree 15 to 20 ft. on the 

 Mlanje Plateau at an altitude of 6000 feet (Purves, Herb. Kew). 



Re/.— « Bark Cloth of Uganda," in Kew Bull. 1892, pp. 58-60. — - 

 " Brachystegia spicaeformis" in Forest Flora and Forest Resources, 

 Port. E. Africa, Sim, pp. 49 and 141-142 (Taylor & Henderson, 

 Aberdeen, 1909). 



It is not unlikely that all the Brachystegias have a bark similar 

 to that described, and that other species occur in Nigeria. 



The bark of Brachystegia tamarindoides, Welw. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. 

 p. 307, is used in Port. E. Africa for all the purposes stated under 

 B. spicaefovmis (Sim, I.e.), and in Central Africa (5° to 10° S. 32° E.) 

 the bark after being boiled and prepared is made into white sheets 

 or cloths worn by the natives ; it is used for roofing huts and making 

 canoes, boxes, matches, and ropes (Grant, Trans. Linn. Soc. xxix. 

 1872, p. 66), 



Brachystegia appendiculata, Benth. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. p. 305, the 

 " Motondo " of the Batoka Country, Zambesi (Kirk, Kew Bull. 1892, 



