Description

A polymorphic, tufted herb up to about 1 m high, in open places of wooded savanna, and secondary and deciduous forest, occurring throughout the Region, and widespread elsewhere in tropical Africa, and extending into Arabia.The plant is sometimes eaten as a vegetable in Tanganyika (17, 19). It is grazed by all stock in the Narok district of Kenya (3–8), though elsewhere it has been recorded as being refused (24). The giraffe in Kenya will browse it (15). A decoction of the plant is used by the Swahili in Tanganyika as a remedy for chest-complaints (25) and for influenza (14). The root is chewed by the Masai and Kipsigis of Kenya as a sovereign cough-cure (3, 6, 7, 9–11) and for sore-throat (9, 12). In S Nigeria plant-sap is used to treat sores (21), and the leaves pounded to a paste are applied to swellings by the Zigua of Tanganyika (20), where also the whole plant is soaked in water which is then used to bathe a child with fever (18). The plant is burnt to an ash in the Mt. Elgon area of Kenya to prepare a form of cooking soda (16).The flowers are much visited by honey-bees in Kenya (3–5, 10, 24).In S Nigeria the plant is used to rub on a cross-bow to clean it (23). It is used to polish floors (1, 2), and is said to drive away flies (22).The root is used in Sudan as the source of a dye in making mats (13).