=COMBRETUM MICRANTHUM= Don.—_Fara Geza_. COMBRETACEAE. This is one of the commonest species in the north, and covers many square miles of the driest and most barren of rocky wastes where little else will grow. The stout root stocks and tough, wiry stems survive fire, drought and excessive heat. It grows from 3-10 feet high, pure or mixed with other _Combretum_ species or with _Guiera senegalensis_. It is distinguished by its generally smaller leaf, smaller fruits (seeds), lighter green foliage and the masses of highly perfumed flowers. =The Leaves= are light green and shining, in pairs. The tip is pointed and the margin sinuous. They decrease in size from the base of the twig upwards. The venation is raised on both surfaces. They are 2-3 inches long and 1-2 inches broad. =The Flowers= are in dense masses of spikes in the leaf axils from May onwards and fill the air with perfume. Each has a 4-pointed calyx, 4 small petals, 8 stamens and a short pistil. There is a ring of orange-coloured hairs round the pistil. =The Fruits= are 4-winged, ½ inch in diameter and length, brown when ripe, in dense clusters on brittle stalks. They are persistent right through to the following rainy season. =Uses.=—The bark is stripped for fibre and the stems used entire for binding the rafters of grass roofed houses or split for basket making. The stems are so tough that an axe or matchet will as often as not fail to cut through, but split the stem. [Illustration] =COMBRETUM VERTICILLATUM= Engl. & Diels.—_Farin Taramniya_. COMBRETACEAE. This is one of the commonest of the larger _Combretum_ species, especially in the drier savannahs. It is particularly common in Sokoto Province and can be distinguished by the grey, dusty-looking leaves. There are two common forms of growth. The more common is that with a bole from 5-10 feet long, or several stems from ground level, and a round straggling open crown with the twigs drooping low down. The other is the tall, erect stem up to 40 feet in height, branching to within a few feet of the ground but having a cylindrical crown composed of erect limbs terminating in long slender branches of great length extending high into the air or dividing into numerous drooping flaccid twigs. The heavy leaves sway and weight down the weak twigs which can be bent to a circle without breaking. The species grows in the poorest sandy soil. =The Bark= is pale grey or brown with very small, crisp scales scattered all over it, there being wide spaces between the scales, especially in the spring. The scales are dotted with small rust-coloured lenticels. The bark is sometimes cream-coloured. The bole is rarely cylindrical, but most often columnar and having rounded root flanges. The slash is red-brown.