Compilation
Ruthalicia eglandulosa

A climber of bush and forest areas, to about 6 m long, widespread in the Region from Mali to S Nigeria. The fruit is bright scarlet with yellow markings.The plant is very poisonous (3), though the sap is used as a poison-antidote in Ivory Coast and to treat burns (1). The Guere of Ivory Coast use the leaf-sap in enemas and in eye-instillations in treatment of jaundice (6). In Sierra Leone the fruit of a large form is sold in Freetown market for crushing and cooking to make a liquid with which Mendes wash babies with fever (5). Nevertheless the ripe fruit is eaten by animals (2). A decoction of the whole plant is sometimes used in Ivory Coast-Upper Volta as a parasiticidal wash (6).The fruit shell is hollowed out, pierced with holes and used as a horn by boys in Sierra Leone, one of several fruits bearing the Mende name kokoi (5). This is kσlo-gokoi, the leopard’s blow-blow. Strychnos sp. (Loganiaceae) is ngolo-gokoi, the baboon’s blow-blow.The plant has medico-magical application in Liberia to treat shortness of breath: the leaves are rubbed on the chest and then on a stick whereby the malady is ‘transferred’ to the stick (Harley fide 4). Superstitious use is also recorded by the Temne of Port Loko area of Sierra Leone: a section of leafy stem bearing a fruit is cut and attached with suitable ‘swear’ to plants to prevent thieving. The hands of a thief will swell up (5).