PROSOPIS OBLONGA Benth.—Kiriya. LEGUMINOSAE.
A large tree attaining a height of over 60 feet with girths of 6-7 feet. In good forest it may have a bole length of 30 feet, but in the open savannahs it is branched to within a few feet of the ground, as a rule, and its crooked limbs form an irregular, rather open crown. The finer twigs droop considerably and the tree may bear some resemblance to Tamarindus. In old trees in good forest there is a high, wide crown, open, and giving little shade. There are small rounded root flanges. The features which most readily distinguish it are its bark, colour of foliage and pods, q.v. It likes good, open soils.
The Bark is almost black, with ragged, crisp, curling scales which are concave on the outer surface and leave light brown patches where they fall. Sometimes the bark has a bluish tint. That of the smaller branches is light grey or brownish and smooth. The slash is reddish, darkening to orange and red-brown.
The Wood is a rich red brown. The sapwood is grey. In transverse section the rings are indistinct, the pores are open, regularly distributed, mostly single, a few double. The rays are very fine, waved and unevenly spaced, not visible to the naked eye. In vertical section the pores are seen to have dark resin contents, the grain is open, and there are bands of colour, the lighter soft wood picking up and the darker hard tissue planing smooth, according to direction of planing. There is a marked reflection of light from these bands. It blunts axes, is hard to saw, must be finished with glass-paper after planing, when a fine surface is obtained, oily to the touch. It will not take nails. A very tough, strong, durable timber. Weight 65 lbs. a cubic foot.
The Leaves are bipinnate with 2-4 opposite pairs of pinnae each bearing some 6-10 leaflets ¾-1 inch long and ¼ inch or more wide, with a pointed tip and the rib not in the middle. They are light green and softly pubescent. The pairs are inclined to the top side of the main stalk and between each pair of pinnae there is a little gland. The base of the stalks is much enlarged.
The Flowers are in short pedunculate spikes, the latter 1½-2½ inches long and densely composed of small yellowish flowers, which appear in May. Each flower has a 5-lobed calyx, 10 stamens with yellow anthers and a short hairy pistil. The flowers are sweet-scented.
The Fruits are large pods from 4-6 inches long and an inch in diameter, slightly flattened in one direction, pointed at the tip, a dark, purple-brown colour. The hard, shiny, brown seeds, oval and ⅓ inch long, are embedded in a dry, cream-coloured, spongy-looking pulp, each separated from the other by a thin, transparent membrane. The seeds rattle loose in the pod. The pods are very persistent on the tree.
Uses.—The natives use the wood for tool handles and burn it for charcoal, the quality of which is very fine and much valued by blacksmiths.
The wood is also used for making pestles for large mortars and the manufacture of tobacco pipes.
