The Bark is pale grey with a light brown tinge due to the patches left by the falling scales. It is thickly covered with very soft, corky scales, rectangular in shape and of greater length than breadth. The horizontal cuts are very straight and seem to have been done with a sharp knife. The fallen scales show a reddish colour beneath, which rapidly turns light brown and finally grey. The surface of the bark scales is very smooth and silvery.
The Wood is medium weight, rather light yellow, with a marked, long, straight grain, alternate yellow and white. The pores are very long, the rings very close. Planes and saws well, with a sheen in places.
The Leaves are about 9 inches long, bipinnate with some 10-15 pairs of pinnae, each having from 10-20 leaflets. The leaflets are broad, sharply pointed and uneven in shape, the inner portion being much narrower than the outer, whilst the inner edge is almost straight and the outer curved to the tip; they overlap and are inclined towards the tip of the pinna, whose main rib has a small extension between the top-most pair. The leaves are slightly sensitive and close at night and very shortly after they are gathered. The main rib of the leaf has purple blotches on its upper surface and is covered with very short hairs. The leaf is smooth with a waxy surface and much darker above than below.
The Flowers, which appear in April are in spherical heads of about thirty together, borne on a 2½ inch stalk. Each flower has a small 5-lobed reddish calyx, 5 small reddish petals and some 18 stamens which are an inch long, very slender, white, gradually becoming green towards the anthers. There is a 1½ inch long pistil, also becoming green towards the tip. The flowers are sweet scented, blooming at night.
The Fruits are pods from 3-6 inches long and ¾ inch wide, and vary in size according to number of seeds and in colour from a very light brown with a pinkish tinge to an uniform light red-brown colour. They are flat and the seeds embossed, the edges of the pod being straight and not indented between the seeds. The whole surface is covered with very short hairs and is velvety to the touch. The pods open on the tree or on the ground, splitting up to the stalk. The seeds are small, round, flat, and green-brown in colour, and are attached to each half of the pod alternately by a long stalk, part of which is straight and part tightly curved into an S next the seed. The pods are ripe in November and remain, a light crop, till April. There is a fine cellular veining on the surface.
AMBLYGONOCARPUS SCHWEINFURTHII Harms.—Tsege, Kiriya ta mata, Kolo. LEGUMINOSAE.
This strikingly handsome tree, with a strong resemblance to the Mountain Ash, is found on poor soils as far as 12½° N., but in the belts where the soil is better than that of the surrounding country. Elsewhere further south it occurs throughout the higher savannah forests, often near streams, where it will grow 60 feet high, but with a small girth in proportion, not exceeding 5 feet. It averages 30 feet high, with a long clean bole and high, wide, flat crown of great beauty from the filtering of light through its bipinnate leaves whose small round leaflets are set apart, the leaves lying in the horizontal plane. A 30-feet bole on the larger trees is not uncommon. It gives little shade. It seems to be very local and where found, occurs over a small area of country in fair numbers.
The Bark is grey or brown, rough, with uneven sized scales, rounded or polygonal. These leave red scars on falling.