291 



7W.— Schweinf. PI. Nil. t. 1 ; Engl. Pflan. Ost. Air. t. 20, f. D 

 (A. Catechu, pod). 



Vernac. names. — Massagi (Hausa, Dudgeon) ; Ede (Oloke Meji, 

 Foster) ; Ede (Yoruba, Thompson) ; Kakamut (Sudan, Muriel) ; 

 M'wombeh (Madi, Grant). 



Lagos (Foster, No. 82, 1906, Herb. Kew) ; Kano, Zaria, N. Nigeria 

 (Dudgeon, No. 5, Herb. Kew) ; Katagum (Dalziel, No. 51, 1907, 

 Herb. Kew). 



The bark and roots are used medicinally in S. Nigeria. The wood 

 is rose coloured and close grained (Thompson, List of For. Trees, 

 S. Nig. p. 4, under A. Catechu). A valuable timber tree, Blue Nile 

 (Muriel, Indian Forester, xxviii. 1902, p. 49). 



M Ede " is a common tree, often gregarious in the Meko and Shaki 

 District, Western Province, S. Nigeria (Thompson. Rep. Tour. Meko 

 & Shaki, No. 25, 1910, S. Nig. p. 4, under A. Catechu) ; plentiful in 

 a very dry part of forest on poor rocky soil between Iwo and Ede, 

 and in general occurs in the dry open forests of S. Nigeria ; natural 

 regeneration prolific (Col. Rep. Misc. No. 51, 1908, pp. 6, 12, and 62, 

 under A. Catechu) ; common in open grass country, and sometimes 

 forming almost pure thickets in the Gold Coast (Col. Rep. Misc. 

 No. 66, 1910, p. 91). 



Found as a thorny tree in Katagum (Dalziel, No. 51, Herb. Kew) ; 

 the thorns— described by Grant (Trans. Linn. Soc. I.e.) "black and 

 hard as iron," " the worst in Africa " — suggest a use as a fence or 

 stockade, but for producing " cutch " it would perhaps be better to 

 rely on the Indian plant (Acacia Catechu, Willd.). 



It is singular that "cutch," the main product of A. Catechu in 

 India, so far as can be ascertained, has never been produced in Africa, 

 and according to Thompson (Col. Rep. Misc. No. 66, I.e.), the heart- 

 wood, from which the Catechu is extracted in Burma, is not well 

 developed in the African plant. 



Acacia Dudgeoni, Craib, in Kew Bull. 1912, ined. 



Allied to A. Senegal, Willd., from which it can readily be dis- 

 tinguished by its more numerous pinnae (up to 10-11 pair) and 

 leaflets (up to 20 pair to each pinna). 



Young branches straight, reddish, striate, thinly pubescent, 

 infrastipular spines turned upwards and inwards, about 2 lin. long, 

 infrafoliar recurved, slightly longer and stouter than the lateral. 

 Leaves bipinnate, petioles 3-6 lin. long, thinly pubescent, provided 

 with a small sessile gland on the upper surface near the base, pinnae 

 up to 10-11 pair, 1 in. long, the rachis having a small sessile gland 

 between the top pair of pinnae or 2-3 glands, one each between the 

 top 2 or 3 pairs of pinnae, leaflets up to 20 pair per pinna, linear- 

 oblong or linear-oboval, rounded at the apex, about 1^ lin. long, \ 

 lin. broad. Spikes cylindric, solitary, axillary, 1-1 j in. lonsr, 

 peduncle nearly j in. long. Calyx f lin. long lobed to about the 

 middle, provided with a few erect scattered hairs. Corolla but 

 slightly exceeding the calyx. Pod shortly stipitate, 1, 2 or 3 seeded, 

 !;£-«■$£ in. long, |-1 in. broad, glabrous, valves reticulate as in 

 A. Senegal, but slightly thinner than in that species. 



Borgu, N. Nigeria (Dudgeon, No. 58, 1907, Herb. Kew) ; Kontagora 

 (Dalziel, No. 41, 1906, Herb. Kew). 



Produces a fine clear gum ; tree very common in Borgu (Dudgeon, 

 I.e.). It is probable that this is the gum from Kontagora mentioned 



16583 H 2 



