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
A common tree locally in parts of the more northerly provinces. It is
not found distributed evenly through the forests but in numbers over
small areas here and there. It is very highly valued by the native for
its fresh fruit and protected on farm lands. It is a thick-set, squat
tree with a short, heavy stem and wide-spreading, crooked branches
forming a round or flat crown. It is from 15-25 feet high, sometimes
more, with a girth up to 8 feet. The foliage, owing to the size of
the leaves, is dense. It is somewhat similar to its congener, _P.
curatellaefolium_, but the leaves are larger, the flowers heavier and
the whole tree on a larger scale. It grows in dry, sandy soils.
=The Bark= is grey and not rough, covered with small even-sized scales.
=The Wood= is a light brown colour, frequently with large grey
discolorations darkening the colour. In transverse section the rings
are obscure bands, the pores are small, few and distributed rather
unevenly, single, connected by very faintly marked and poorly developed
soft tissue lines. The rays are exceedingly fine and very close
together. In vertical section the pores are few and fine and the grain
is close. It is a fairly hard wood, sawing well and planing with little
picking up to a hard, smooth finish which polishes well. Weight 45 lbs.
a cubic foot.
=The Leaves= are some 5 inches long and 3-4 inches wide on the average,
but may be as much as 8 inches long and 5 inches wide, with a stout
stalk not above ¼ inch long. They are slightly cordate at the base and
broad at the tip with a small point. There are some 15-20 straight
veins on each side of the mid-rib, sunken on the upper surface and very
prominent on the underneath. The upper surface is a brilliant light
green gradually darkening with age, the under side grey. There is a
dusty brown covering of hairs on the upper surface, which rubs off
readily in the hand and exposes the smooth green surface. The stalk is
densely covered with brown hairs.
=The Flowers= are in terminal racemes from 3-9 inches long, all parts
except the petals covered with the hairs. Each flower has a 5-lobed
calyx, 5 white petals in 2 groups of 3 and 2, 10-20 white stamens
with yellow anthers and a curved, white pistil. The flower in bud is
enclosed in 2 bracts which are pushed up by expansion of the flower and
then fall off the end. The flowers are found on the tree every month of
the year, a continual succession of flowers and fruit occurring.
=The Fruits=, which are found all the year round, are plums,
reddish-brown with an orange tint, rounded or oblong, 1½-2 inches
long and 1-1½ inches broad, the surface roughened with numerous grey
lenticels. The sweet, edible flesh is whitish, moist and mealy, about
½ inch thick round the very tough, thick stone which has one or two
“kernels.” The ripe fruit has a sickly sweet smell.
=Uses.=—The wood of large specimens makes very good mortars.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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