An erect, sub-bushy, annual to 1.3 m high, recorded only from Guinea, Sierra Leone, Ghana and N Nigeria, but widely dispersed pantropically.The leaf has a bitter astringent taste. It is eaten in the Region as a pot-herb and in other countries of the plant’s occurrence. The whole shoot is said to have a piquant flavour and to be eaten fresh or dried and stored in southern Africa. Cattle relish the young plant which has a high food value. The young leaves have a vitamin C content of 40 mg/100 gm. There is also present in comparative abundance a volatile oil of unpleasant smell which, however, may taint milk (1, 3)The plant is able to set up localized irritation. The flowers and stem have given positive antibiotic action on Staphylococcus aureus, but none on Escherichia coli (3). In Sierra Leone the leaves are squeezed over boils and are also eaten to cure them (2).Uses of B. pilosa are probably in common with this species.