A scandent or twining shrub, occasionally arborescent to 10 m; of the closed-forest throughout the Region from Senegal to S Nigeria, and extending across central Africa to Uganda, Zambia and Angola.Goats eat the plant, evoking in Igbo the epithet ike meaning ‘strong’ (3). The idea of imparting strength is also manifest in the root and bark which are sold in Lagos medicine market for the purpose of preparing an infusion taken by pregnant Yoruba women to strengthen the baby, such preparation also being given as a tonic to infants up to the age of 2–3 years (4). A decoction of the leaf (and stem) is drunk, a glassful at a time, by Yoruba to cure aiperi (convulsions) and a sickness called afun where the skin becomes whitish and transparent in children up to 1 year old (6). The leaf is boiled in Sierra Leone and the liquid used as a mouthwash (4, 5), while in Igboland such a preparation is used to wash sores (4, 10).The bark-macerate is considered by medicine-men in Casamance to be the laxative of choice for babies up to 3 months old with chronic constipation (7, 8). The root, stem and leaf are decocted in Ghana and Nigeria and the liquor is drunk to kill and expell roundworm (Ascaris) (6).In Ivory Coast the leaves are put into wet dressings for rheumatism and haemorroids, and decocted the draught is taken for bronchial troubles and used in eye-instillations for ophthalmias (2).Alkaloid is reported to be strongly present in the bark (2) and the root (1).The leaf when touched by fire crackles violently, thus conjuring up magical use in Ivory Coast to chase away spirits to quieten fits of madness in possessed persons (2).The seed is edible (4, 6). They are eaten in Lagos (9).