With the exception of the oil palm, which is of general occurrence throughout the country, the Lagos silk rubber tree (_Funtumia elastica_) is of the most importance from a commercial standpoint. Rubber vines of the genera _Landolphia_ and _Carpodinus_ are also valuable wild plants, from which some of the finest rubbers are at present extracted. Copal, known as “Ogea” gum, and collected from a tree which has been determined as _Cyanothyrsus oblongus_ (syn. _ogea_), is exported in varying quantity according to the market value. A fairly extensive local trade is done in “chew-sticks” in the Western Province; the sticks being cut from a tree which occurs in the grass country, and is recognised as _Anogeissus leiocarpus_. The ash made from the wood of the same tree is sold for use as a mordant in indigo dyeing. Camwood is a red dye-wood prepared from at least three different species of trees—_Baphia nitida_, _Pterocarpus tinctorius_, and _Pterocarpus sp._—and is almost entirely used locally for staining the human skin or dyeing leather. Fibre plants do not appear to be cultivated in any part of the country, but occur to some extent in all the forested parts. _Hibiscus guineensis_ and _Dombeya buettneri_ are usually employed for native ropes, and the bark of _Sterculia barteri_ is said to be prepared for the same purpose. =OIL PALM.=—A description of this tree and information in connection with the principal characteristics and mode of propagation have been given in the Sierra Leone portion of this work, and it may merely be remarked that there is no difference in a general way between trees grown in the two localities. With regard to the form of fruit, however, that of Southern Nigeria is separated into several kinds, varying in the relative proportion of pericarp and kernel, and these will be referred to later. The method of preparing palm oil varies to a large degree in the different localities. The best quality of oil is that produced in the Western Province. The oil, which on the market is classed as “Lagos fine grade,” and obtains the highest price among West African oils, is made from the fresh fruits boiled and pounded in the manner described for the Sierra Leone oil, but the extracted oil is further cleared by straining and boiling until a uniformly clear and limpid product is obtained. [Illustration: STRAINING OIL FROM THE FIBROUS PULP OF THE OIL PALM, OSHOGBO. Fig. 22, p. 97.] [Illustration: COTTON BALES, MARLBOROUGH GINNERY, IBADAN. Fig. 23, p. 113.] [Illustration: AFARA TREE (_TERMINALIA SUPERBA_) AT OLOKOMEJI. Fig. 24, p. 118.]