A note on Conacarpus lancifoliuss Engl. A Promising Species for Planting in Arid and Semi- arid Regions of the Tropics

Abstract

The drought resistant, evergreen "Damas" (Conacarpus lancifolius Engl.) was tried in the early 1960s on the irrigated saline soils of the Khartoum Green Belt. By the end of the 1960s, some trials were started on the alluvial, silty and seasonally flooded "Gerf" soils along the Blue Nile banks, at Hudeibat and Lembwa forest (south of Singa) reserves. In 1981, two permanent sample plots, each of 0.25 ha in size in Hudeibat forest were enumerated. The results indicated that the average annual growth rate was about 23 m3/ha. The measurements of Lembwa forest during 1983, 1984 and 1986 showed that the average annual growth rate was 36 m3/ha. Therefore, it is to obtain an average annual growth rate of Damas of about 30 m3/ha as compared to 15 m3/ ha/year for Acacia nilotica and 23 m3/ha/year for Eucalyptus microtheca. These results indicate that Damas is the fastest growing forest tree in the Sudan, and due to its multiple uses, it is recommended to give more attention to this species in the afforestation projects.