=The Flowers= are in round heads, 2-3 inches across, at the tips of the leafless twigs and appear from December onwards. Each flower is cream-white in colour, has 8 sepals in two rows, 8 petals, 8 stamens and a central, petal-like crown round the ovary, consisting of abortive stamens (staminodes). The flowers are sweet, with a rather nauseating perfume. As they die off, the young leaves shoot from the middle of the head. They are visited by bees. =The Fruits=, which begin to form from January onwards are like green plums when ripe, and contain one or two shiny, chestnut-brown kernels, with a large scar, or hilum, having the appearance of a split seed coat. They are about 2 inches long and 1 inch wide, the thin seed coat enclosing a firm, white flesh, from which the oil is extracted. =Uses.=—The oil is extracted and the butter made by the natives by a preliminary boiling in water, followed by repeated pounding and stirring in cold water, the oil which rises to the surface being skimmed off and placed to harden in calabashes. It is eaten as such, burnt as an illuminant and used as a base for certain medicines. [Illustration] =CASSIA AREREH= Del.—_Malga, Gamma fada_. LEGUMINOSAE. A small, erect tree from 15-20 feet in height, about a foot in girth, with one or more stems and a high, drooping crown of delicate pinnate leaves. It resembles _Cassia Sieberiana_ only in the shape of the flowers, leaves and pods, and the outstanding differences are the erect form, the perfume and the longitudinally splitting pods. It grows in good soils and not in the barren places where _C. Sieberiana_ abounds. =The Bark= is a dull grey, with wavy but not prominent ridges of crisp bark, often rather shaggy when the scales fall in long pieces. The slash is pale brown. =The Leaves= are pinnate, about 10-12 inches long with 6-7 pairs of leaflets some 2 inches long and narrowing in proportion to the length towards the top of the leaf. The main rib is very slender and is produced beyond the top pair of leaflets in the form of a slender curve, which frequently replaces one of the final pair of leaflets. The leaflets are smooth, clearly veined and purplish when young. =The Flowers= are in racemes some 6-10 inches long, crowded, especially at the tip, with the flowers whose stalks grow to 3 inches in length. The three bracts, one long and a pair shorter are very conspicuous, especially at the crowded tip of the flower stalk where the buds are purplish. The flowers are typical of the genus, with 5 curled sepals, 5 irregular oval petals, 3 long, 4 medium and 3 short stamens, and a long, curved pistil swollen in the middle. The flowers are highly perfumed and appear in February in large masses amongst the new leaves.