PTEROCARPUS ERINACEUS Poir.—Madobia. LEGUMINOSAE.
A medium-sized tree of the savannahs, averaging some 40 feet in height with a girth of 4-6 feet. Timber producing examples considerably larger are common enough and good, clean, straight boles 20 feet or more in length are found. It has a wide distribution up to 14° N., but is a small tree at this latitude. The crown is high, open, wide and rounded, not giving much shade. Larger examples have short buttresses. The species is susceptible to fire which hollows the stems. The long pinnate leaves, masses of yellow flowers and winged, hairy seeds on the leafless tree are characteristic features. Over many miles of the better types of savannah it is the type tree amongst others and occurs in quantities.
The Bark is very dark and rough with scales which curl up at the ends and make the bole appear shaggy. The scales fall in pieces 3-4 inches long. The bark of the branches is light grey and smooth. The slash is brown with fine red lines and a blood-red resin exudes from it.
The Wood is a rose-red or rich brown colour with a wavy grain of darker streaks. It might almost be called figured, especially in tangential section. In transverse section the pores are small, single and scattered and connected by fine, wavy lines of soft tissue; the rays are extremely fine and closely spaced, not visible to the unaided eye, and the rings are indistinctly marked darker lines, generally varying in width apart and rarely concentric. The radial section has a marked banding of dark and light. The wood is hard, liable to split in seasoning, difficult to saw and the planed surface smooth, slightly oily and taking a high polish. The weight is 60 lbs. a cubic foot.
The Leaves are pinnate, a foot long, with some 11-13 pinnae, alternate, and wide apart. The upper surface is shiny, the lower grey-green, the mid-rib prominent beneath and grooved above. The leaves are pendulous.
The Flowers appear from December to February on the leafless tree, and are in such numbers as to be conspicuously yellow from a great distance. The flowering tends to be patchy, that is, part of the tree may be smothered in flowers on one side and not on the other. The flowers are in short spikes with a bright green calyx and a papilionaceous corolla of much-wrinkled yellow petals, which turn pale when fertilised.
The Fruits are winged, round, 2 inches in diameter with the wing much waved and the embossed seed portion covered with short, bristly hairs which lie in all directions. They are often so numerous as to give the tree the appearance of being in leaf. They dry light brown.
Uses.—Larger specimens yield timber suitable for construction and furniture. Smaller trees are used for building posts.
