Description

A straggling bush or liane to 30 m long with stems to 10 cm thick, of the closed-forest or mixed deciduous evergreen forest from Sierra Leone to W Cameroons, and on to Zaïre and Angola.The foliage is recorded as browsed by goats in S Nigeria (3).The stem of the liane yields a red sap which rapidly goes tacky in air. The plant, on the Theory of Signatures, is widely used for affections in which blood is manifest. In Congo (Brazzaville) it is considered haemostatic and cicatrisant on wounds, and good for treating dysentery, piles, haemophthysis and dysmenorrhea (1). In Ivory Coast it is used for painful menses (2). The red stem-sap is used topically in Ivory Coast-Upper Volta on herpes and other dermal infections (7), while the leaf-sap is similarly applied, even to areas of leprosy, in Congo (Brazzaville) (1). In Liberia, the powdered dried leaves are sprinkled on sores (5). A stem-decoction is drunk in Congo (Brazzaville) (1) and in Sierra Leone (6) for blennorrhoea or gonorrhoea.A decoction of young shoots and roots is considered a sovereign remedy for cough and bronchitis and a twig-decoction for all abdominal complaints in Ivory Coast (2). Leaf, stem and root-decoction is drunk in Sierra Leone for stomach-ache and the bark and stem are chewed for cough (6). The husk of the nut is also chewed in Sierra Leone for cough (4). The plant is used in Ivory Coast for whooping cough (2) and the sap is made into a cough linctus in Congo (Brazzaville) (1) where it is applied also to a carious tooth. Leaf-sap is an ear-instillation in Zaïre for ear-troubles (8).Young leaves with kola nut and seeds of maleguetta pepper are taken in Congo (Brazzaville) for tachycardia, and sometimes leaf-sap with sugar-cane sap and other drug-plants for insanity (1).The stems possess considerable strength and are used in Zaïre (8) and Ubangi (10) to make traps for hunting. The stem-bark yields a strong fibre which resists rotting. It is used by fishers and hunters in Gabon (9), Zaïre (8) and widely in central Africa (4). Leaves of Antiaris africana (Moraceae), which form the wrapping of a witch-doctor’s magic baton in the Central African Republic, are stitched together with this fibre (11). Fibre-extraction is usually done by drying in the sun and beating. Retting is not normal (9).The root-bark, dried and powdered, is poisonous. An antidote is Piliostigma thonningii (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) (10).The seeds are oil-bearing. Cooked nuts are an item of market trade in S Nigeria; the large white kernels, c. 2.5 cm diameter, are mealy and edible when well-boiled. Oil-content of Central African material has been recorded as about 50%. The oil is yellow and tasteless, thickening on exposure in thin films, suggesting a possible use in paint manufacture, but having an iodine value of only 101 (4). Good quality drying oil has an iodine value of 125 to over 200.

Description

A straggling bush or liane to 30 m long with stems to 10 cm thick, of the closed-forest or mixed deciduous evergreen forest from Sierra Leone to W Cameroons, and on to Zaïre and Angola.The foliage is recorded as browsed by goats in S Nigeria (3).The stem of the liane yields a red sap which rapidly goes tacky in air. The plant, on the Theory of Signatures, is widely used for affections in which blood is manifest. In Congo (Brazzaville) it is considered haemostatic and cicatrisant on wounds, and good for treating dysentery, piles, haemophthysis and dysmenorrhea (1). In Ivory Coast it is used for painful menses (2). The red stem-sap is used topically in Ivory Coast-Upper Volta on herpes and other dermal infections (7), while the leaf-sap is similarly applied, even to areas of leprosy, in Congo (Brazzaville) (1). In Liberia, the powdered dried leaves are sprinkled on sores (5). A stem-decoction is drunk in Congo (Brazzaville) (1) and in Sierra Leone (6) for blennorrhoea or gonorrhoea.A decoction of young shoots and roots is considered a sovereign remedy for cough and bronchitis and a twig-decoction for all abdominal complaints in Ivory Coast (2). Leaf, stem and root-decoction is drunk in Sierra Leone for stomach-ache and the bark and stem are chewed for cough (6). The husk of the nut is also chewed in Sierra Leone for cough (4). The plant is used in Ivory Coast for whooping cough (2) and the sap is made into a cough linctus in Congo (Brazzaville) (1) where it is applied also to a carious tooth. Leaf-sap is an ear-instillation in Zaïre for ear-troubles (8).Young leaves with kola nut and seeds of maleguetta pepper are taken in Congo (Brazzaville) for tachycardia, and sometimes leaf-sap with sugar-cane sap and other drug-plants for insanity (1).The stems possess considerable strength and are used in Zaïre (8) and Ubangi (10) to make traps for hunting. The stem-bark yields a strong fibre which resists rotting. It is used by fishers and hunters in Gabon (9), Zaïre (8) and widely in central Africa (4). Leaves of Antiaris africana (Moraceae), which form the wrapping of a witch-doctor’s magic baton in the Central African Republic, are stitched together with this fibre (11). Fibre-extraction is usually done by drying in the sun and beating. Retting is not normal (9).The root-bark, dried and powdered, is poisonous. An antidote is Piliostigma thonningii (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae) (10).The seeds are oil-bearing. Cooked nuts are an item of market trade in S Nigeria; the large white kernels, c. 2.5 cm diameter, are mealy and edible when well-boiled. Oil-content of Central African material has been recorded as about 50%. The oil is yellow and tasteless, thickening on exposure in thin films, suggesting a possible use in paint manufacture, but having an iodine value of only 101 (4). Good quality drying oil has an iodine value of 125 to over 200.