142 



Vernac. names. — Eben or Eban (Old Calabar, Thomson, Holland-, 

 Uwet, McLeod ; Creektown, Goldie) ; Onumu (Benin, Col. Rep. 

 Misc. No. 51, 1908, p. 88); Safn (St. Thomas, Don) ; N'Safu 

 (Congo, Bentley). 



Old Calabar ; Uwet ; Okuni, Ikum, Cross River. 



Fruit edible ; the natives eat the outer portion boiled or roasted. 



The wood is described as white and hard ; used for framework 

 and joinery (De Wildeman, PI. Util. Congo, Art. xxvi. p. 339). 



The tree may be propagated from, seeds. It is commonly 

 cultivated at Old Calabar, along the roadsides near Uwet (McLeod, 

 Herb. Kew), in the Cameroons (Mann, Herb. Kew), and from 

 St. Thomas to the Congo (Hook. Ic. PI. tt. 2566, 2567). 



Re/.— Hook. Ic. PI. 1899, tt. 2566, 2567.—" The Eben Tree of 

 Old Calabar," in Kew Bull. 1906, pp. 172-173. 



Canarium, Linn. 

 Canarium Schweinfurthii, Engl, in DC. Monogr. Phan. iv. p. 145. 



A large tree, leaves over 2 ft. long, imparipinnate ; leaflets 

 11-13 pairs, lj-l^ inches apart, shortly stalked, oblong, slightly 

 cordate at the base, acuminate, the upper ones 6-7 inches long, 

 H-2 J- inches broad, the lower hardly more than half as long ; 

 lateral nerves 17-23 on each side of the midrib ; veins densely 

 reticulate, prominent below. Panicles up to 1 ft. long ; lateral 

 branchlets few-flowered, up to H inches long. Flowers over 

 ^ inch long ; pedicel and calyx greyish or yellowish pubescent. 

 Drupes obovoid. 



Vernac. names. — Onanakuku (W. Prov. S. Nigeria, Thompson) ; 

 Mubafo (Angola, Welwitsch) ; Mpafu (Tanganyika, Kirk, Thomson)-, 

 Mwafu (Uganda, Mahon, Dawe) ; Mombele (Congo, De Wildeman). 

 — African Elemi. 



Modakeke, S. Nigeria (Foster, Herb. Kew) ; W. Prov. S. Nigeria 

 (Thompson, Herb. Kew). 



The so-called African Elemi has been attributed to the preceding 

 species. See Planchon & Collin, in " Les Drogues Simples," ii. p. 558, 

 Canarium edule, Hook. f. ; Moloney, " Forestry of West Africa," 

 p. 295, Canarium edule, Hook, f., "Mpafu" or " Mubafo"; Hiern., 

 " Catalogue of Welwitsch's Atrican Plants," i. 127 (stated here to 

 also yield an oil), Canarium edule, Hook, f., more especially with 

 reference to the specimens named " Mutafo " or " Nbafo " ; but 

 these statements, together with the note under " * Mpafu ' tree of 

 Tropical Africa," Canarium sp., in Kew Report, 1880, p. 50, 

 probably apply to Canarium Schweinfurthii, Engl., the " Mpafu " 

 of Uganda, " Mbaf u " of Tanganyika, " Mupafu " of Mukenge, and 

 " Mubaf u " of Angola, as in Engler, " Pflanzenwelt Ost-Afrikas," 

 B. p. 199, where the matter relating to the Elemi and oil seems to 

 be, perhaps for the first time, accurately put. There are several 

 specimens of Canarium Schweinfurthii in the Museum which 

 bear out this view (Kew Bull. 1906, p. 172). 



" Canarium Schweinfurthii, Engl., a genuine Canarium having 

 a thick, exceedingly dense and hard endocarp, has been confused 



