63 



Vernac. names. — Kamoot (S. Leone, Cole) \ Lamy (French 

 W. Africa) ; Ngoumi (Congo, De Wildemari) ; Kanya (Hecke!) : 

 Butter and Tallow Tree. 



Niger River. 



The seed of this tree yields an edible fat, which first came 

 into notice in this country as a possible article of commerce 

 in 1895, when some specimens of the tree and samples of seed 

 were submitted to Kew by the Government of Sierra Leone. The 

 seeds were found to contain 41 per cent, of oil, which, though not 

 of high quality, was considered suitable for soap making (Kew 

 Bull. 1897, p. 324). 



According to a later report (Cons. Rep. Ann. No. 2876, 1902, 

 p. 4) Lamy is worth £8 per ton on the European market, and is 

 employed in candle and margarine manufacture. 



These seeds are stated to have been found as an adulterant of 

 Kola nuts (Cola acuminata), but they do not contain theine, and 

 differ from the true kola in yielding a certain percentage of fat, 

 and a small quantity of tannin (Year Book, Pharm. 1888, p. 165). 



In Sierra Leone the natives use the oil for cooking in the same 

 way as palm-oil. The oil is extracted by drying the seeds and 

 parching them over a fire. They are then pounded in a mortar, 

 water is added, and the whole boiled, the fat or oil is skimmed off 

 as it rises to the surface (Kew Bull. 1897, p. 322). 



Propagation by means of seeds. 



Ref. — " Beurre de Kanya," or " Oddjendje." Les Drogues 

 Simples d'origine vegetale, Planchon & Collin, 1896, ii. p. 752. 

 Hook. Tc. Plant. 1896, t. 2465.—" Beurre de Kanya," in Ann. Inst. 

 Col. Marseille, 1897, pp. 161-170.—" Butter and Tallow Tree of 

 Sierra Leone," Kew Bull. 1897, pp. 320-325. 



Garcinia Kola, Heckel, in Journ. Pharm. et Chim. viii. p. 88 (1883). 



Ill— Journ. Bot, 1875, t. 160. 



Vernac. names. — Efrie (Uwet, McLeod) ; Bitter Kola ; False 

 Kola ; Male Kola ; Orogbo Kola-nut. 



Tree, 20-30 feet (Masters), 10-20 feet (Heckel). 



Branches subterete, glabrous, swollen at the nodes ; leaf bases 

 prominent, persistent ; branchlets green, ascending. Leaves 

 distant, about 6 ins. long, 3 ins. broad, subcoriaceous, glabrous, 

 shining above, paler beneath, ovate oblong, (or elliptic oblong) t 

 entire, narrowed at both ends, shortly acuminate, subcuneate at 

 the base ; midrib sunk on the upper surface and prominent on the 

 lower ; lateral nerves fairly close together, parallel, arching near 

 the margin, intermediate veins densely reticulate. Petioles J-§ in. 

 long, corky. Mature fruit baccate, obscurely 4-celled about 

 3 ins. long and 2^ ins. across, oblong-ovoid, or obovoid, apex 

 obtuse, with remains of the styles at the apex and of five 

 imbricate sepals at the base. Rind subcoriaceous, pubescent, 

 apricot-coloured, resiniferous, covering a juicy, orange acid pulp. 

 Immature fruit cuboid, very obtuse at both ends, deeply 4-lobed. 

 Seed exalbuminous, solitary in each cell, two of them aborting ; 

 mature s^-cds 1 \ in. long, J in. across, terete-oblong, obtuse at both 

 ends, \\\[\\ a brown parchment-like coat. Embryo fleshy, bitter, 



