The Leaves vary a great deal in size and shape, but the type is obovate or spoon-shaped with a tapering base and a rounded, broad tip, with or without a cleft of variable depth. Often the tip of the leaf is very deeply cleft, the edge is finely crenate or serrate, the surface smooth, the laterals hardly visible except when held up to the light. The mid-rib is prominent beneath, the laterals waved, the stalk crimson, the length up to 4 inches and breadth 2½ inches. The leaf droops in the sun and becomes limp in texture.
The Flowers, from December to February, are in small cymes in the axils of the leaves, on the old wood or new shoots. On the new shoots there is generally one cyme in each axil, on the older twigs there may be four separate cymes. Each flower is ⅙ inch in diameter, with a very small 5-pointed calyx, 5 white, oval petals, 5 minute stamens and an ovary with a bifid, branched style. There are male and female flowers on the same tree, the female having no stamens.
The Fruit is a capsule, ½ inch in diameter, with 3 cells each containing 2 seeds. They are conspicuous in clusters, turning from pale green to red.
HANNOA UNDULATA Planch.—Takandar giwa. SIMARUBACEAE.
A medium-sized tree which abounds, though not further north than 12° and very local, in Tree savannah and the better type of Bush savannah. Its bark and leaves, once recognised are a ready means of identification. It attains a height of 35 feet with girths of 3-5 feet. It grows erect, with vertically ascending branches which form a high, narrow crown. A bole-length up to 10 feet, but not often more, is common. It is very subject to attacks by a caterpillar which skeletonises the leaves and covers the twigs with a lot of silk.
The Bark is dull, grey with long vertical ridges and fissures of very soft, thick cork. A curious effect, due to the absence of marked scales, is that the bole appears to have no bark at all, but resembles a dead tree whose trunk has turned grey with exposure. The slash is reddish.
The Wood is pale yellow. In transverse section the rings are faintly visible, the pores are mostly in little chains of 2-6 or so, having the appearance of being one long pore divided by partitions, the groups running in radial direction between the rays. Thin lines of soft tissue connect the groups. The wood is soft, saws and planes very easily, with little picking up. The wood requires well seasoning as it is liable to mould and rot. The weight is 35 lbs. a cubic foot.
The Leaves are pinnate, up to 12 inches long with 3 or 4 opposite pairs and a terminal leaflet. The leaflets are far apart and on slender stalks an inch or more in length. They vary in size on the one leaf, up to 2 inches long, excluding the stalk, and almost as broad as long in the case of the lowest pair and the terminal leaflet, with broadly cleft tips and abruptly tapering bases. The margins are sinuous, the mid-rib prominent on both surfaces and the lateral grooved on both surfaces. They are a dull, dark green above and a yellowish green beneath. The leaflets are almost at right angles to the main stalk.