The Bark is all colours, grey, green, bluish and brown in patches, the large scales falling entire like those of the plane tree and leaving deeply indented scars which gradually change colour. The slash is a rich yellow with a thin green bark edging.
The Wood is very dark brown. In transverse section the rings are clearly marked dark lines of varied width, rarely circular. The pores are small, in chains and festoons connected by soft tissue which shows as flecks in the dark hard tissue. The rays are fine and almost straight, invisible to the unaided eye and visible as short light bands in radial section, in which section the grain is banded and straight. In tangential section the grain is mottled, almost figured. The wood is hard, not easy to saw or plane but capable of being worked up to a rather oily finish which takes a polish. It has a not unpleasant smell. In seasoning it has been noticed that numerous radial and concentric cracks occurred but that these closed up and became quite invisible even under a lens. The weight is 50 lbs. a cubic foot.
The Leaves are pinnate, 9 inches long with an average of 11 alternate leaflets which are oval, slightly cleft, 2 inches long and 1 inch broad, increasing in size upwards, with shiny surface and short stout stalks.
The Flowers are in small racemes amongst the leaves at the twig ends. They are inconspicuous and appear from May to July. Each has 4 green sepals, 5 greenish-white petals, 10 stamens in the keel, not all fertile and a prominent, flattened pistil. They are ½ inch long.
The Fruits are pods from 2-4 inches long and an inch broad, brown with a paler edge, shiny, with veined surface and slightly embossed seeds. The 1-3 seeds are round, flat, light brown and have a white hilum, and are ⅜ inch long. The pods are persistent on the tree till the following rains.
Uses.—The wood is used for axe and hoe handles, its excessive hardness giving it the name of “kariye gatari” or “break the axe.” Concoctions of the bark and roots are used medicinally.
AFZELIA AFRICANA Smith.—Kawo. LEGUMINOSAE.
A species which is more locally than generally common and in some forests found very evenly distributed throughout large areas. Large timber specimens, as found in the south, are rarely met with, as the form of the typical northern specimens is one having a short, thick bole with a girth of 6-10 feet, large spreading limbs forming a wide, rather flat-topped crown with dense foliage and good shade. Forty feet is an average height for such full-grown trees. It is comparatively rare in the extreme north, but especially common in parts of the central and southern provinces of the north. At a distance it can be distinguished by the brilliant green of its foliage, which, though apparently dense, is actually very superficial and can be seen through in somewhat the same manner as can Chlorophora excelsa. It attains its full size in “kurmis” or on the slopes of well-watered hills.