Part 4

=The Fruits= are small, rough, cone-like balls of irregularly serrated-edged seeds, packed horizontally. They are green in the seed and brown in the wing portion. They ripen about December and are about ¾ inch.

=Uses.=—The wood is burnt entire and the fine, white ash used for fixing dyes. The ash is also used for washing white garments. The roots are used as “Chew-sticks” for cleansing the mouth and teeth. The saplings and branches produce forked poles (gofa) for building. The bark yields a dark, inferior gum. The seeds are a cure for worms in horses. The leaves, mixed with salt, make a yellow dye.

=ANONA SENEGALENSIS= Pers.—_Gwandar daji_. “_Custard Apple_.” ANONACEAE.

A very common shrub, averaging some 10-12 feet in height, sometimes a small tree, in suitable situations exceeding 20 feet; very widely distributed and found everywhere except in the extreme north. The distinguishing features are the oval, bluish leaves, the waxy, yellow flowers and the familiar orange-coloured fruits. It has no particular form.

=The Bark= is normally light, silvery grey, smooth, with marked horizontal cuts round the stem, having the appearance of joints. Older or exposed stems, especially those subject to fire, become darker and roughly scaly. The slash is a dull, pale pink.

=The Wood= is greenish-grey. The transverse section shows indistinct rings, minute single pores scattered in between the fine waved rays which reach from the centre to the edge of the wood and show as small dark bands in radial section. In vertical section the grain shows as slight variations in colour. It is soft and easy to saw and plane. Weight 40 lbs. a cubic foot.

=The Leaves= are oval, some 6 inches long and 3 inches broad, bluish-green, with a short stalk, the lateral nerves inclined well forward and the small connecting veins parallel, numerous and at right angles to the mid-rib. The leaves stand erect and are apt to fold up along the mid-rib. When crushed they are fragrant.

=The Flowers= appear from January to April, single or in pairs, ¾ inch long, pale yellow and waxy. Each has three small green sepals and six petals in two rows, the outer three large, with broad flat edges which meet tight together in bud, the inner three smaller, thick and pale yellow, their tips meeting over a mass of stamens round the ovary and stigmas. The flowers do not open wide and last for a long time.

=The Fruits= are rounded, 2-3 inches long, composed of fleshy carpels each containing a seed, green at first with a resemblance to cones, ripening to a rich orange colour. They are pleasant but unsatisfactory eating owing to the large number of seeds embedded in the juicy flesh. Birds are very partial to them, hollowing them out before they ripen.

=Uses.=—The fruit is eaten fresh.

=BALANITES AEGYPTIACA= Del.—_Aduwa_. “_Desert Date_.” SIMARUBACEAE.

In the north this is one of the commonest trees on loose sand or barren, stony wastes, where it is often the only species to survive the extreme conditions. It averages 15-20 feet high, but 30 feet is not uncommon, with a girth of 4-5 feet. The long green thorns and small dark leaves distinguish it. The form is roughly spherical, with a tangled mass of long thorny twigs, whose ends droop or protrude here and there some feet from the main thicket. It extends northwards to the limits of tree growth, affording fodder for camels and goats.

=The Bark= is grey, with long, wide, deep, vertical fissures in which the yellow of the new bark can be seen. The scales are long, thick, prominent and ragged. The branch bark is distinctive. Dark green and smooth, the cream-coloured lenticels of various lengths cover it ever more thickly from the tip downwards till the green colour is completely obscured and the grey of the branch bark is reached. The slash is pale yellow.

=The Thorns= are modified shoots borne spirally round the long slender twigs in the leaf axils, 2-3 inches long, tapering evenly to a strong, sharp point. They incline slightly forward and barely curve. They are dark green and persist on the branches.

=The Wood= is light yellow with sometimes greyish discolorations. In transverse section the rings are distinct in wavy light lines; the pores are small, open and in little groups in concentric rings and the rays are clearly visible as light lines of various overlapping lengths. In radial section the rays add a figure to the wood in lines up to an inch long. In vertical section the wood is of even colour and texture, close grained and sound. It is easy to carpenter and planes smoothly without picking up. Weight 48-50 lbs. a cubic foot.

=The Leaves=, with the thorns in their axils, are really paired leaflets on a short, common stalk; 1½-2 inches long, over 1 inch wide, a very dull, dark green, they are unequal lobed, as illustrated, with a tendency to close up along the mid-rib. They assume a vertical position, even when the twig droops, the stalks bending to adjust themselves to this position.

=The Flowers=, in the leaf axils, are found from November to March, in spikes up to 3 inches long, often shortened to resemble round clusters. Each flower is ½ inch across, with five small green sepals, five longer and darker green petals, ten short yellow stamens and a shining dark green ovary with short, blunt pistil. The tree sometimes flowers out of season.

=The Fruits=, which ripen from February onwards, are 1¼ inches long and about an inch wide on a short stalk. At first green with a wrinkled, nipple-like tip, they turn yellow on ripening, when they have a thin hard skin, a light brown, sticky, edible flesh and a large, hard, pointed stone. There is a space between the flesh and the skin.

=Uses.=—The fruits are edible, particularly appreciated by beasts. The wood makes excellent axe and hoe handles. Planes have been made of it, it being similar to beech in quality. The branches are used for hedging farms.

=BALSAMODENDRON AFRICANUM= A. Rich.—_Dashi_. BURSERACEAE.

This shrub or small tree is locally plentiful and is found in all situations, in the driest sandy soils, on the tops of rocks where it grows stout and stunted in the crevices, and in loamy soils. It is frequently seen planted as a live hedge from cuttings and forms an impenetrable barrier after the habit of the Blackthorn. The slender but rigid twigs shoot out in all directions and with its trifoliate leaves on the purple twigs, the plant is readily identified. As a small tree, a form met with on hills or in better soils in the forest, the stem is short and stout, dividing low down and quickly branching into a light rounded crown. The height is rarely over 15-20 feet.

=The Bark= of old examples is green and shining, covered with little papery scales which flake off. That of the branches and twigs is red or purple. A resinous gum with a pleasant scent exudes from the slash.

=The Thorns= are branches whose tips are modified in the form of spines, which will bear leaves, and in the dormant season are dotted with buds.

=The Leaves= are trifoliate, often very small, but when full-grown some 3-3½ inches long, of which one inch is stalk, red above, green beneath. The middle leaflet is broadest slightly over half-way up, tapering gradually to the base and more suddenly to the tip, with irregularly serrated edges. The lateral leaflets are unequal in size, the right hand one usually considerably larger than the left, both rounded and serrated in the same manner as the middle leaflet. The surface is shiny waxy green, very bright when young. The venation is prominent beneath, the lateral nerves much branched and zig-zag. The leaf is scented.

=The Flowers= appear in October on the leafless tree and are in small clusters all along the twigs, up to about 10 in a cluster, each on a minute stalk. The flower is ¼ inch long with a 4-lobed tubular corolla deep red with green lobes, the petals separate but overlapping and close together in the tubular portion which is held in the 4-lobed, cup-shaped calyx. There are 8 stamens, 4 just appearing in the corolla mouth, 4 shorter, and a pistil wholly below the corolla mouth.

=The Fruits= are small irregularly pear-shaped drupes a little over ¼ inch long, greyish with a purple bloom which is easily rubbed off. They have a highly resinous flesh and white kernel and ripen in the early spring. They grow in clusters along the twigs and the crop is often a heavy one.

=Uses.=—The resin is used as a scent on garments and medicinally, taken internally.

=BAUHINIA RETICULATA= DC.—_Kalgo, Kargo_. LEGUMINOSAE.

A medium-sized tree or shrub, in which latter form it occurs over large areas of country as pure growth, particularly as secondary growth in farmed land, where it is a great pest to the farmer who desires to continue sowings. It grows prolifically from stumps which the farmer does not trouble to uproot. It is very fond of small, shallow depressions, where it will grow to the exclusion of all else. In its proper habitat it will grow over 30 feet high with a girth of 8-10 feet, with short bole and an enormous rounded crown of dense foliage affording good shade. It is one of the commonest species in the north.

=The Bark= is a dull, dark grey, sometimes with a rust-red tinge, deeply fissured and ridged with hard, brittle bark of some thickness, which falls in large, ragged sections. That of young trees can be ripped off readily after being cut. The slash is bright crimson, turning brown on exposure, and shows the fibrous nature of the bark.

=The Wood= is oak-brown, rather dirty looking, with light patches and dark discolorations, especially round flaws. In transverse section the rings are indistinct but the hard and soft tissue is very well marked, mostly in concentric lines. The pores are small, evenly distributed, mostly in festoons joined by the soft tissue. The rays are extremely fine and closely spaced, invisible to the unaided eye and very faintly seen in radial section as small bands. The wood is easily sawn but picks up badly under the plane. It is very strong and tough and weighs 50 lbs. a cubic foot.

=The Leaves= are bifoliate, the depth to which the leaf is divided varying a great deal and the angle being sharp or rounded. They average 4 inches across but those from stool shoots especially may be very much larger and generally the larger the tree the smaller the leaves. There are four main nerves on each leaflet and the mid-rib projects slightly between them. The leaf stalk is an inch long, with large base. Like all species of this genus the leaf tends to fold up along the mid-rib. The colour is lighter beneath and the venation a very intricate network and prominent. The texture is tough.

=The Flowers= are in spikes, 2-6 inches long and appear in February or March or even as late as June. Each has a 5-lobed calyx, green-brown in colour, 5 white petals, wrinkled and overlapping at the edges, 10 stamens of varied length with brown anthers and a short, blunt pistil. The flowers drop off readily when handled and are about an inch long. They do not open very wide.

=The Fruits= are pods 6-9 inches long, hard, flat, dark-brown, straight or contorted into strange shapes, 2 inches broad and ¼-½ inch thick. They are persistent on the tree for many months, a most disfiguring feature, and drop entire, rotting on the ground. They are very liable to attacks from a grub which destroys the seeds. These are small, brown, oval and scattered about in the mealy endocarp which has an objectionable smell.

=Uses.=—The wood is used for axe and hoe handles of all sorts. The bark is used for binding and tying but is not plaited or twisted into ropes. Cattle eat the pods.

=BAUHINIA RUFESCENS= Lam.—_Jirga, Tsatsagi, Matsagi_. LEGUMINOSAE.

A small tree, typically inhabiting annually inundated areas but also flourishing in sandy soils of poor quality. It forms, with its numerous much branched stems, a small thicket of one or more trees; it is difficult to say how many under the circumstances, as one root-stock will produce a number at ground level, forming an impenetrable mass. It can be distinguished readily by the typical leaves of the genus, and the small size of these compared with other species. The fact that it is always in flower and fruit will identify it also.

=The Bark= is a light ash-coloured grey, smooth and covered with small, brown horizontal lenticels. Old stems bear at the base small dark scales and the bark is fissured giving it a speckled appearance. The slash is pink and reveals the very fibrous nature of the bark.

=The Thorns= are modified twigs whose tips are strongly pointed. They may support leafy shoots or bear leaves themselves and are seen best on the long, slender shoots and drooping twigs. They extend their growth indefinitely, but on the older wood may be seen as bare, woody spines 3 or 4 inches long, curved out and down.

=The Wood= is a dull, smoke-brown colour. In transverse section the rings are indistinct dark lines; the pores are numerous and unevenly distributed, single in small groups or in short chains, the rays invisible to the unaided eye but showing as small bands in radial section, which reflect the light. In vertical section the grain is close and there are darker bands of colour. The wood is not hard, is easily sawn and planes to a nice, soft, smooth finish though it picks up in places with the long soft fibres. The weight is 50 lbs. a cubic foot.

=The Leaves= are borne spirally round the branches, often in the thorn axils or on the thorns themselves, or on twigs bare of thorns. They are bifoliate, typical of the genus, rarely over an inch long and mostly a ½ inch, the terminal leaf of a new shoot often being much larger. The mid-rib is extended between the leaflets which are divided to the base and there are three main nerves to each leaflet. They are a light, blue-green or grey-green, with a bloom and are partly sensitive, closing up rapidly after being plucked.

=The Flowers= are white and can be found all the year round, though the proper flowering season is in the rains or towards the end of them. They are in small racemes at the twig ends, pendulous amongst the leaves, ¾ inch long, with a calyx which splits partially into five parts, remaining attached at the tips and opening beneath, 5 white petals, spoon-shaped with narrow base and broad, pointed tip, 10 white stamens with light brown anthers and a tuft of hairs at the base of each, and a clubbed pistil.

=The Fruits= are pods about 3 inches long, constricted between the seeds, dull black, slightly curved, containing up to eight shiny, rich red-brown seeds, roughly rectangular with one rounded corner. The seeds rattle loose in the pod which falls entire and rots on the ground. The pods hang in conspicuous clusters and may be seen all the year round.

=Uses.=—The bark is stripped for binding but is not plaited into ropes.

=BERLINIA AURICULATA= Benth.—_Doka rafi_. LEGUMINOSAE.

This is a medium-sized tree of the best savannah types, commonly found in “kurmis” and extending as far north as 11°. It occurs plentifully in Sokoto and Kontagora along the small streams in the south. Averaging 40 feet in height it will reach 60 feet with girths of 8-10 feet. The crown is high, rounded and very dense in the open; flatter and more superficial in heavy forest, topping a 30-feet bole, only 10 feet long in open situations. The flowers and pods are both conspicuous.

=The Bark= is dark-grey or brown, the scales leaving large, concave scars. The slash is pale brown.

=The Wood.=—The heartwood is red-brown, the sapwood light with a pink tint. In transverse section the rings are well but unevenly marked red lines. The pores are large and solitary, for the most part in oblique rows, and the rays are extremely fine and invisible to the unaided eye. In vertical section the pores are long and straight and the rings show as dark bands. It is rather a coarse, stringy wood, sawing roughly and picking up in long fibres under the plane. Where the grain suits the plane the finish has a bronze sheen. It is a fairly hard wood and weighs 50 lbs. a cubic foot.

=The Leaves= are pinnate, 9-12 inches long with an average of four pairs of pinnae increasing in size from the lower pair upwards, the lower 2-4 inches long and 1½—2 inches broad, the upper pair 5-7 inches long and 2-3 inches broad. The mid-rib curves forward, rounding the outer edge of the leaf. The nerves are alternate long and short. The similarity of the leaf and fruit to those of _Isoberlinia doka_ gives it its native name.

=The Flowers= are in close panicled racemes at the branch tips from March to June. Each flower is 4 inches long over all, being enclosed at first in a pair of long, pale green, velvety bracteoles which separate and fall back to release the flower parts. The calyx is a slender tube divided into five long, narrow pointed, recurved sepals. The corolla has four small, linear petals and one erect white, wrinkled, cleft petal 2 inches long and broad, with a green centre splash. There are ten long, erect, hairy stamens with brown-green anthers, and a long pistil. The flowers are in such masses as to be conspicuous from a great distance.

=The Fruit= is a broad, flat, dark brown, velvety pod, 6-10 inches long and 2-2½ inches broad. It explodes when ripe to release some 3-5 round, flattened seeds.

=BOMBAX BUONOPOZENSE= Beauv.—_Kuriya, Gurjiya_. MALVACEAE.

This tree is known as the Red-Flowered Silk Cotton Tree and grows, on an average, to a height of 40 feet with a girth of about 5 feet. Very much larger specimens are, however, to be seen, up to 70 feet high with girths of 15 feet and more. Rounded root-flanges are prominent on the large trees. The crown is regular and umbrella-shaped, rather flat-topped, wide-spreading and open with superficial foliage giving little shade. In old specimens the bole is gnarled and the limbs much bent, the shape of the crown being often retained by the growth of the smaller branches. The species is not at all exacting as regards soil and is, in fact, commonly found on hillsides and amongst rocks where its roots penetrate the little but good soil. It is more local than general in its distribution.

=The Bark= of the younger trees is very corky, longitudinally fissured and horizontally cut into prominently spiked scales. The degree of roughness is very variable, being generally far more marked, relatively on younger trees, and, in the older ones, the thorns being confined to the branches, the bole having prominent layered corky scales with soft ends. Some quite small trees bear no thorns at all, but this is rare. The spines are conical, with broad corky bases and sharp black points. If a piece of the bark be snapped off it shows a light red colour. The slash is crimson.

=The Wood= is a dirty white colour. In transverse section the pores are large, widely scattered, single, twin or nests. The rays vary in width and in spacing very considerably, and are straight, showing as long, light-reflecting bands in radial, and as brown flecks in tangential section. In the latter section the pores are brown, open and wavy. It is a very soft and light wood, easily worked, not strong, its durability largely dependant on the manner in which it has been seasoned, with exclusion of damp and consequent mould. It is very subject to small borer beetles. The weight is only 20 lbs. a cubic foot.

=The Leaves= are truly digitate with generally six lobes, broad at the tip, narrow at the base, with a prominent point. The entire leaf is 6-7 inches across, with a 5 inch stalk. The venation is prominent on both surfaces and the colour is pale, the surface smooth.

=The Flowers= are the most conspicuous feature of all and may be found from November to February. They are red, tulip-like blooms, 3 inches in diameter, with a dark red 5-lobed calyx, 5 red petals and a mass of black-anthered stamens filling the corolla and surrounding a 5-part pistil. They fall in numbers, entire, and are devoured by antelopes.

=The Fruits= are large, pendulous capsules some 4 inches long and 2 inches wide, black or deep brown when ripe, splitting into five sections to release small black seeds embedded in a mass of silk-cotton. The pod shrinks in the ripening and the silk cotton is packed tight in it and expands in bulk enormously by hygroscopic action, carrying the seeds a great distance on the wind.

=Uses.=—The wood is used for making large and small drums, native stools used by women, basins, shoes and saddles and cattle troughs. The bark is used by women to impart a red colour to the teeth. Certain pagans make a sauce from the flowers, locally called “Kwungi.”

=BORASSUS FLABELLIFER= Linn. _var._ =AETHIOPUM= Warb.—_Giginya_. PALMACEAE.

This very well-known Palm inhabits marshes, the banks of streams and any well-watered hollow, and will grow, if introduced, on dry sandy soils. With the exception of the Dum Palm, _Hyphaene Thebaica_, it is the most northerly of the palms in Nigeria and is found in vast quantities in “fadamma.” It does not actually grow in the water, though it will survive an occasional immersion when grown, but occupies islands, banks and edges of marshy land as well as the banks of streams, lakes, etc. It reaches a height of over 80 feet, with a girth at the base of 6 feet, at breast height 4 feet 6 inches, and at the narrowest point 3 feet. The stem swells at about 30 feet and after the palm is about 50 years old narrows again, repeating the swelling process again and even a third time in very old palms. The rate of growth, except when cultivated, in which case it is quicker, is very slow. The seed germinates in a month and sends down a shoot from 2-4 feet deep into the ground. This shoot swells at the base and loses connection with the empty seed, and sends up a green shoot from the base, which forms the first leaf. In the root-bud stage it is eaten as a vegetable, called “muruchi” and thousands of seeds are planted for this purpose alone. The first leaf is a narrow blade, as are subsequent leaves, gradually broadening till the first frond appears about three years later, the stem appearing at ground level after some six or seven years. From then onward the growth is at the rate of from 12-18 inches a year, 50 year old palms being about 50-60 feet in height.

=The Bark.=—The stem is a smooth one after a number of years; the leaf scars, very marked when fresh, gradually fading away.

=The Wood= is heavy and hard, apt to splinter into separate fibres, but very durable above ground. It weighs about 50 lbs. a cubic foot. The wood of the male is more compact throughout than that of the female whose centre is looser, the outside only being really serviceable.

=The Leaves= are up to 12 feet long, fan-shaped, the segments V-shaped, joined for half their length, the stalk concave above and spiny on the margins. The sheath divides at the base before falling and remains for some time clasping the stem.

=The Flowers= appear in April, just as the fruit has fallen, the females on one tree the males on another. The males are on branched spadices up to 6 feet long, the separate catkins a foot long and 2 inches broad. There are 3 sepals, 3 petals and 6 stamens, the flowers being green. The females are on a 6-8 feet long spadix, unbranched, with up to a dozen spikes of flowers, with 3 sepals, 3 smaller petals and the rudiments of 6 stamens.

=The Fruits= are the most conspicuous feature, ripening in April to a rich orange colour. They are some 6 inches long and 5 inches broad, the enlarged calyx cupping the fruit. The edible, fibrous pulp surrounds three seeds with hard fibrous coats and edible kernels.