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
=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.
[Illustration]
=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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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