=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. [Illustration] =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.