INDIGENOUS TREES OF WEST AFRICA

 Since the beginning of the pandemic, my love for the environment and nature blossomed like a new sunflower that is bringing forth its new petals. I beam in its radiance that even those who were not close to me saw the glow and couldn't help but admire and care for the environment as well. who doesn't want to protect his/her home, or simply put, who doesn't want better thing? 

During the total lockdown, as a lover of nature, I craved foods, veggies/fruits organically grown and something close to nature. so, with the help and encouragement form other environment enthusiasts, I decided to try my hands on Edible Urban Gardening (EUG), did you just say what is EUG 😄? Well gardening is the activity of growing, tending and cultivating plants especially in the form of horticulture. however, because I prefer edible garden to ornamental plants and the fact that I reside in the suburb, I decided to coin the name Edible Urban Gardening. you can as well call me a subsistence farmer because I went from Lawn gardening to Land faming plating tuber (yam), Ewedu (Jute), Ugu (Fluted Pumpkin), Amunututu (Malabo spinach), Waterleaf (Egbure), Shoko and Tete vegetable, Tomato, Habanero pepper (rodo), Tatashe Maize, Ginger, Garlic and Onion. I can gladly tell you that the joy you feel when you eat your own grown food is incomparable. the fact that natures hear your call of sowing seed and answer your call with good and bounty harvest is what you cannot forget in your life time. I was also posting my activities and carried my kids along with excitement written on their faces anytime its farm time, even my colleagues were trilled with our updates on our gardening activities and gradually heed the call of mother nature 😆.

After all set and done, just like Oliver Twist, I wanted more 😏, haa ori iya mio (my mother's head). what else do I want ke, you wouldn't believe it, home grown fruits. This pandemic is getting interesting o, so what fruits do we grow now? For your information, I eat all fruit except maybe the ones I haven't tasted or seen before. The quest grew and the search for the best, easy and fast growing fruit began. As an environment enthusiast, conservation came to mind and while going through my feeds on twitter, boom, Tunde Morakinyo of Africa Nature Investors (ANI) post on planting of trees caught my attention and after going through the thread, I concluded it was going to be indigenous plant or nothing. 

So what are indigenous plants? These are simply native plants specified to a locale (i.e. plants that occur naturally in a particular region, ecosystem or habitat), they are different for naturalized plants or exotic species. Naturalized plants are foreign/exotic/introduced or alien plants that are able to grow on their own and produce a new generation without human aid such as weeding, watering, pest control, fertilizer etc. They become wild in their adopted homeland.

Indigenous or native plants help the environment the most when planted in places that match their growing requirements. they tend to thrive in the soils, moisture and weather of the region they are indigenous to. they also have the ability to cope with less supplementary watering to prevent water wastage and resist pest problems to some extent. they also help to keep the aquifer level of their environment by managing rain water runoff and reduce erosion. they maintain healthy soil due to their root systems which are deep and keep the soil from being compacted.

INDIGENOUS PLANTS OF WEST AFRICA

COMMON NAME	SCIENTIFIC NAME	ENGLISH NAME	Germination period	FRUITING PERIOD	CONSERVATION STATUS
Agbalumo/Udara/Chiwo	Chrysophyllum albidum.	African Star Apple
Ube	Dacryodes edulis	African Pear
Obi Edun/Ochicha, Achicha, Utu or Ochiricha/ Ndiyah.	Cola millenii K.Schum	Monkey Cola	14-21 DAYS	8 YEARS
Awin/ Icheku/ Tsamiyar kurm	Dialium guineense	Black Velvet Tamarind
Orogbo/Garagara	Garcinia kola	Bitter Cola	14-21 days
Obi/Goro/	Cola acuminata	Kolanut
Apon/Ogbono/Pfii	Irvingia gabonensis	Bush Mango/ Wild Mango			Near Threatened
Asala/ Awusa//Ukpa/ Neme	Tetracarpidium conophorum/ Plukenetia conophora	African Walnut/ Nigeria Walnut			Vulnerable
Igi Àfọ̀n/Ukwa/ Yagara	Treculia africana	Breadfruit
Igi Apádò	Oldfieldia africana	African Oak
Ìrókò, Ọ́jị̀, 'uloho	Chlorophora excelsa	African Teak			Near threatened
Obeche	Triplochiton scleroxylon	Obeche, African Whitewood			Least concern
Afara, Ofram	Terminalia superba	Limba, or Afara, Korina, frake, African limba wood
Igi Ose	Adansonia digitata	African Baobab
Igi Ope	Elaeis guineensis	African Palm Tree
Opepe	Nauclea diderrichii	Opepe			Near threatened
Igi Ìgbá /Sikomu/Dawadawa	Parkia biglobosa	Locust bean
Igi Apá	Khaya senegalensis, Khaya ivorensis, Khaya grandifoliola	African Mahogany, Lagos Mahogany, Benin/Senegal Mahogany			Vulnerable
Igi Apá	Turraeanthus africana	African white Mahogany
	Guarea cedrata	Light Bosse/ scented guarea			Vulnerable
	Coffea canephora	Nganda Coffee/  Coffea robusta			Least concern
Rogon Daji	Ampelocissus africana
	Bothriochloa bladhii	Purple Plume Grass
	Strophanthus thollonii	Thollon's Strophanthus
	Raphia vinifera	West African Piassava Palm
	Pausinystalia johimbe	Yohimbe
	Musanga cecropioides	African Corkwood Tree
Igi Nla/Igi Asorin/ Nnunu Ebe	Okoubaka aubrevillei	Big Tree			Endangered
	Spathodea campanulata	African Tulip Tree, fountain tree, Nile flame
Igi ope	Raphia hookeri	Raphia palm

 

Above are some of the Indigenous trees of West Africa. These trees are native to Africa hence thrives perfectly well in West African soil as well as in some other regions where they have been naturalized and exotic. In view of the above and in line with sustainability and conservations measures, it is pertinent on us all to start planting one or more of these plants to ensure continuity and to avoid loss of our cultural heritage because native plants too constitutes part of our culture. Imagine our sweet Agbalumo/udara or Ube going into extinction or our important Iru no longer in existence or a situation where we start importing our own fruits/spices all because we never ensure their conservation or continuous propagation. 

Note that any inconsistency in the above list is as a result of my error, however, any observations, comments and further information to make the list a comprehensive one will be highly appreciated. You can help ask your kins/folks about trees that are native to our land and kindly drop their names in the comment section.