279 



249 ; Karst. & Schenck, Veg. bild. iv. t. 29 (habit) ; Volkens, Notiz- 

 blatt, App. xxii. No. 1, 1909, p. 11, f. 4 ; Engl. & Drude, Veg. Erde, 

 ix. f. 210 (after Volkens). 



Vernac. names. — Erun or Obo (Yoraba, Thompson) Erun.or Obo 

 (Lagos, Dawodu) ; Arache (Cent. Div. S. Nigeria, Thompson) ; Elondo 

 or Ebondo (Gaboon, De Wildeman) ; Eyo (Pahonia, De Wildeman) ; 

 Protodon (Ashanti, Thompson) ; Kaya, or Kbande (Sierra Leone, 

 Scott Elliot) ; Bangi (Golo, Sudan, Bull. Imp. Inst. 1909, p. 22) ; 



Bourane (W.Africa, Moloney)-, Kura (Sudan, Broun). Sasswood, 



Sassy or Casca Bark, Ordeal Bark, or Red Water tree. 



Mamu Forests ; Oshun River Reserve ; Bassa ; widely distributed 

 in West tropical Africa. 



The bark is poisonous, and an infusion of it is used in many parts 

 of tropical Africa as an ordeal, especially in Sierra Leone and Liberia, 

 and a decoction is used by the natives in West Africa for poisoning 

 arrows (Moloney, For. W. Afr. p. 338). In Lagos it is used in a 

 pounded state as a fish poison (Dawodu, Mus. Kew). 



The wood is reported to have no value for export, though it is 

 useful for constructional work; very hard and durable, specific 

 gravity 0*896 = 56 lbs. per cubic foot (specimen from Uganda, Dawe, 

 No. 757, Mus. Kew) ; weight per cubic foot 63 lb. (Bull. Imp. Inst. 

 1908, p. 238) ; used for building purposes on the Niger (Thompson, 

 Col. Rep. Misc. No. 66, 1910, p. 89). 



Propagated readily from seed ; confined to rocky banks of streams, 

 in Meko and Shaki districts (Thompson, Rep. Tour through Meko and 

 Shaki, 1910, p. 4) ; met with in the evergreen forests in the dry parts 

 of the Gold Coast (Thompson, Col. Rep. I.e.) ; attains very large 

 dimensions — bole 30 to 50 feet, 5 to 6 feet in diameter at about 5 feet 

 from the ground — in the Budongo Forest (Dawe, Rep. Bot. Miss. 

 Uganda, 1906, p. 30) ; a tall tree common on laterite plateaux, and in 

 valleys by water, Sierra Leone (Scott Elliot, Herb. Kew). 



Ref. — " Recherehes sur les Ervthrophleum," etc., Planchon, in 

 Ann. L'Inst. Col. Marseille, 2nd Series, v. 1907, pp. 161-313. 



Erythrophloeum micranthum, Harms, MSS. 



Tree 50-80 ft. high. Pinnae in 3-4 opposite pairs, 4-6 in. long ; 

 leaflets about 6 pair on each pinna, alternate, elliptic-oblong, acumi- 

 nate, generally slightly emarginate at the apex, rounded or cuneate 

 at the base, up to 4^ in. long and If in. broad, glabrous on both 

 surfaces, main nerves about 7 pair, prominent on the lower surface. 

 Flowers subsessile, crowded in rather large terminal panicles the 

 branches of which are ferrugineous tomentellous ; bracts minute 

 Corolla exceeding the calyx, pilose-tomentose. Legumes up to almost 

 5 in. long 1* in. broad, rounded at the apex, rounded or very obtuse 

 at the base, about 7 seeded. — E. guineense, Oliver Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. 

 p. 320, pro parte. 



Vernac. names. — Karku (Gold Coast, Johnson, Evans) ; Elondo 

 Libreville, Pierre). 



Brass (Barter, No. 3, Herb. Kew) ; Nun River (Mann, No. 482, 

 1860, Herb. Kew). 



According to Barter (Herb. Kew) this is the " Sassa water " or 

 k ' ordeal tree " of the Brass people, but not of Calabar. Bark used as 

 a poison by the natives, Nun [Niger] river (Mann. Herb. Kew). The 

 wood has a specific gravity 0-7794 = 48-7 lb. per cubic foot (Mus. 

 Kew) ; used largely at Tarkwa for firewood, Gold Coast (Evans, Mus. 

 Kew). 



