This is a large tree inhabiting stream banks which extends as far north as 12°. It attains a height of 60 feet with a girth of 6-8 feet, occasionally more. It has a habit of growing right in the beds of small streams where it is washed annually by the flood waters. In these situations the trunk will assume almost a horizontal position at the base and survive severe damage. Except in dense stream bank vegetation the bole is rarely clean, but is covered with slender shoots down to the ground level. The erect willowy shoots are a marked feature of the tree. It has a large dense crown with heavy limbs, and the rosette-like growth of the long narrow pointed leaves distinguishes it.
The Bark is grey and deeply fissured, often spirally, with long fibrous ridges and ragged scales which fall in large pieces. The slash is a deep dull red, with thick spongy fibres, and a sticky sap exudes.
The Leaves are some 9 inches long and 1½ inches broad, with tapering base and long pointed tip. The stalk is an inch long. The upper surface is a dark, shining green, paler beneath with the mid-rib prominent. They are whorled and appear like rosettes.
The Flowers are borne on 3-inch stalks in the leaf axils from February to June. Each stalk has a pair of bracts in the middle, or nearer the head of flowers. These flower-heads are spherical, 1-1¼ inches in diameter, greenish and perfumed. Each separate flower is tubular, with a short 5-lobed calyx, a long tubular 5-lobed corolla, 5 stamens inserted on the corolla throat and a long, knobbed pistil. The corolla tube is pinkish, the tips of the lobes mauve, and the calyx is green, red inside at the base.
The Fruits are in spherical heads, greatly resembling those of Mitragyne africana. Each is a small capsule which parts down the middle into two cocci which contain a number of minute seeds, winged at both ends.
Uses.—The timber is suitable for all kinds of furniture and joinery work.
AFRORMOSIA LAXIFLORA Harms.—Makarfo, Kariye gatari. LEGUMINOSAE.
A small or medium-sized tree very common in bush or tree savannah, averaging 30 feet in height, but attaining 50 feet, with girths of 3-6 feet. The bole, though frequently of good length, is rarely straight, in fact it is a characteristic of this species that the bole is bent and twisted and that the branches show this feature to the tips. It is like a large edition of Stereospermum Kunthianum (Sansame). The crown is high, rounded and open, giving little shade. The bark is the most ready means of identification.