=The Wood= is pale red. In transverse section the rings show as fine white lines between broader, darker bands. The pores are small, numerous and in rows between the long fine rays which are visible as small bands in radial section. In the plank the pores appear numerous and short and the grain is marked faintly in dark and light lines. The pores glisten with resin. The wood is not hard, easy to work and planes to a soft finish with no polish. It is liable to radial cracks but is otherwise a sound, clean timber. =The Leaves= are up to a foot long and 6 inches wide, oval, rounded at the tip and gradually tapering to the short, broad stalk. They are a dark, brightly shining green, much paler beneath, covered with short, erect, stiff hairs, feeling slightly rough to the touch. The mid-rib is raised a little on the upper surface and is very prominent beneath. The nerves are light in colour. =The Flowers= are monoecious, male and female on the same tree, the female situated below the male. Both are similar in appearance, grouped in clusters round the thick shoots at the base of the leaves, and their parts are surrounded by thick yellow bracts in place of petals. The male has dense clusters of separate flowers, compressed into a ball, each minute flower having 5 2-anthered stamens and a rudimentary ovary amongst minute bracts. The female has 3 triple stigmas. The flowers appear during the rains. =The Fruits= are like figs at first sight, but very different in structure. Borne in long clusters on the leafless twigs, or amongst the leaves, they ripen in March or April and may persist till July. They are ¾ inch in diameter, round or slightly pear-shaped, yellow and juicy ripening to dry and red-brown. The remains of the stigma show at the tip as three small black, shredded tufts radiating from the centre, and the division of the fruit shows itself on the outside by three slight ridges. A cross section through the fleshy fruit shows the design of the curiously folded green cotyledons lying in the kernels. The fruit coat is covered with short stiff hairs. The seeds are hard, ½ inch long, oval and grooved. [Illustration] =VERNONIA AMYGDALINA= Del.—_Shiwaka_. COMPOSITAE. A very common shrub or small tree, abundant on the banks of streams and large rivers where it forms an impenetrable thicket. It has either a number of stems from ground level or a single low-branched stem forming a rounded crown up to 12 or 15 feet high. =The Bark= is light grey and smooth with no distinctive character. =The Leaves= are some 6 inches long and 1¾ inches wide, this being an average, the largest reaching 8 inches in length and 3 inches in width. They are alternate on the shoots, long and tapering at both ends with an acute point and stalks about ½ inch long. The margins are waved. The upper surface is a dull dark green, paler beneath with the venation prominent. There are often hairs on the surface.