Morinda lucida, Benth. in Hook. Niger Flora, p. 406. [M. citrifolia, Hiern in Oliv. Fl. Trop. Afr. iii. p. 191, partly, non Linn. M. citrifolia, var. lucida, Hiern in Cat. Afr. Pl. Welw. ii. p. 492].
A large straight-boled tree, Uwet (MacLeod), 30–40 ft. high, Cross River (Holland), 15–20 ft. high, trunk 1–3 ft. in diameter, flowers abundant, white, fragrant, Golungo Alto (Hiern, Cat. Welw. Afr. Pl. ii. p. 492), distinguished from the other African species by the terete branchlets and the small flowering and fruiting heads supported on extremely slender peduncles; it is also distinguished by these characters from the Asiatic and Malayan M. citrifolia, L., with which it was confused in the Flora of Tropical Africa.
Vernac. names.—Eruwo or Eruwaw (Yoruba, Millson, Moloney); Oruwo (Oloke-Meji, Foster); Guigo (Princes Island, Welwitsch); N-golo-mugi (Angola, Welwitsch).—Brimstone (Nigeria, Imp. Inst. No. 8, 1905, Heb. Kew), Brimstone Wood (Yoruba, Millson).
Gold Coast to Angola and in North East Tropical Africa; confined to the Southern parts of Nigeria—Yoruba, Lagos (Millen No. 106, Herb. Kew; Millson, Herb. Kew); Abeokuta (Irving, No. 70, Barter, No. 3388, Herb. Kew), Onitsha (Barter, Nos. 1234, 1753, Herb. Kew); Uwet (MacLeod, Herb. Kew); Inkum, Ekom Cross River (Holland, No. 240, Herb. Kew).
Used by the natives in dysentery and fever, Onitsha and Fernando Po (Barter, l.c.), tonic leaf, Yoruba (Millson, l.c.), a yellow dye is obtained from the tree Uwet (MacLeod, l.c.).
The timber is used for building huts in Golungo Alto (Hiern, Cat. Welw. Afr. Pl. ii. p. 492), for canoes, planks, posts, etc., resisting ravages of termites, Yoruba (Millson, Kew Bull. 1891, p. 211, M. citrifolia); one of the most valued woods in West Africa, for all kinds of carpentry work, very durable underground and in damp situations, not liable to attacks from insects (Mann, Mus. Kew); specific gravity 0·593 to 0·632 (Chevalier, Bois, Cote d'Ivoire, in Les Veg. Util. L'Afriq. Trop. Franç. Fasc. v. p. 228, M. citrifolia), and according to a specimen (Mann, Cameroons) in the Kew Museum 0·806 = 50 lb. per cubic foot. This specimen was cut from a tree 8 inches in diameter, bark ⅛ in. thick, fibrous, colour of the wood yellow, darkening by exposure, hard, close grained.