The useful trees of northern NigeriaLely, Hugh Vandervaes
Science
The useful trees of northern Nigeria
Lely, Hugh Vandervaes
Plants, Useful -- Nigeria, Northern; Trees -- Nigeria, Northern
A concoction of the pods, crushed with water, is used for tanning. The
leaves, boiled, with the addition of a small piece of Tamarind pod, are
used as a cure for a disease of the eye which causes the lashes to fall
out.
From the pods a black leather dye called “kuloko” is made.
[Illustration]
=ACACIA CAMPYLACANTHA= Hochst.—_Kumbar Shafo, Farichin Shafo, Karo,
Karki_. LEGUMINOSAE.
A tall tree somewhat resembling _Acacia Sieberiana_, especially in the
case of full-grown trees of both species. A comparison of the bark,
thorns and pods will readily distinguish one from the other. It is
the tallest and most erect of the acacias in the north, reaching a
height of 60 or more feet and girths of 4-6 feet when growing, as is
very commonly the case, in dense clumps on stream banks, hillsides and
on the sites of old towns. This last peculiar situation is sometimes
explained locally by the fact that cattle eat the pods and deposit the
undigested seeds on the site of a cattle camp in a deserted town. The
bole is often 30 feet or more in length in these clumps, the crowns
high and flat-topped and meeting overhead, forming a density of shade
sufficient to kill all growth of grass on the floor. Old trees in the
open have lower, wider-spreading and more open crowns, with shorter
boles and bear a marked resemblance, at a distance, to _A. Sieberiana_.
They commonly reach over 6 feet in girth.
=The Bark= is a pale yellowish colour, sometimes almost white, and is
smooth, with small, regular, brownish scales which in old trees are
grey and coarser. The slash is crimson with white streaks, very fibrous.
=The Thorns=, which are the readiest means of distinguishing this
species from _A. Sieberiana_, are short, strong, recurved, and brown
with a black point. They resemble falcons’ claws, from which they get
their native name. They are in pairs at a widely obtuse angle.
=The Wood= is a very dark brown, with almost black streaks. The sapwood
is white. In transverse section the rings show as irregular dark bands,
the pores are small, few and connected by very thin lines of soft
tissue, the rays are very fine, waved and unevenly spaced, invisible
to the naked eye. In vertical section the rings show as bands of dark
brown and almost black and there are lighter areas. The wood is hard,
fibrous and bad to saw, not easy to plane, though the finished surface
is smooth and will take a good polish. The long fibres pick up badly in
places. The weight is 52 lbs. a cubic foot.
=The Leaves= are bipinnate, about 9-10 inches long with 20-25 pairs of
leaflets which droop on each side of the mid-rib. The narrow leaflets
are ³⁄₁₆ inch long, slightly curved and a dull, dark green.
=The Flowers= are in 4-5 inch spikes about ½ inch in diameter, densely
crowded with cream-coloured scented flowers with numerous stamens. They
appear from May-July in masses amongst the leaves.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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