BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA SHEET

PIPERACEAE 17
wild plant. The dried black berries and even the fresh red fruita are sold in all
markets as a spice--" Bush Pepper "-much used in flavouring soup, rice, etc.,
and medicinally as a stomachic and carminative, especially for griping conditions
and as an adjuvant to many other medicines, for syphilis, rheumatio joints, etc.
It is used also externally as a counter-irritant or stimulating ointment, sometimes
in mixture with the seeds of UvariaChamae and other aromat cs.
The leaves taken with food are supposed to improve the chances of conception.
The grains may be useful as an insecticide whm pulverised and placed amongst
clothing.
Although one of the early spice grains brought from the Grain Coast (Liberia)
in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, it does not appear to have at any time
been accepted in Europe as a substitute for ordiary pepper (P. nigrum)which is
more aromatic. In common with other peppers itcontains an essential oil which
contributes to the flavour, chiefly depending on the principles chavici-e and
piverins. The distilled oil, which is yellowish or nearly oolourless, may be
suitable for perfumery, soap-making, etc. Amongst the Ekoi in S. Nigeria the
plant is symbolic, and sacred to ghosts (Talbot).
P. umbellatum Linn.-Holl. 4 : 558.
FT. Gain. : FuL gouloafa (Jacquea.F61ix In R.B.A. 1935 :198, but see also under Ampelo.
eiu#u. Grantii); Su,'i labasab. S. Leone: Me. poponda ; TL kofusam ; Sueu labalaba. Gold
Coast: Twi amma/a, mumuaha. B. Nlgeria: Benin lbe.axhi ; Ibo, Ow. njam nja (Car.
penter).
The leaves in some parts of West Africa are eaten as a vegetable. The basal
part of the stem with rather thick and sometimes corky bark is slightly aromatic,
and is sometimes used by the Timnes as a condiment with rice, or as an ingredient
in the common sauce made of dried fish and palm oil. In French Guinea the
plant is regarded as a remedy lor tapeworm. Jacques-F6lix (l.c.) gives reasons
to doubt this, but it may perhaps act as a simple vermifuge. In other countries
the reputation of the plant has been as an antiscorbutic and diuretic. The leaves,
boiled with the ingredients of a palm oil stew, act as a laxative used in pregnancy
(Gold Coast). Irvine mentions also (I.c. below) that the leaves on the inflorescence
are prepared with peppel in an enema used in the treatment of a women's
complaint.
The roots alone, or mixed with other herbs, are also used medicinally, an
infus'on of the root macerated in palm wine, etc., being drunk for rheumatism.
Locally a poultice of the leaves potuded with palm kernels is applied to a whitlow
to bring it to a head.
In Gold Coast the plant is said to attract fish, and the leaves along with
plantain or other food form a bait used in traps and nets.
Rtef.-Afzelius, Rermed. Guin. 39-41 (under Piper grandifolium). Irvine, PI.O.C. 342.
A. Chevalier, R.B.A. 1931 : 646.
PAPAVERACEAE
ARGEMONE Linn. (1 : 80)
A. mexicana Linn.-Holl. 1 : 53. Mexican or Prickly Poppy.
Senegal and Fr. Gain. : Wol. Aomhom bu djiguen or hAompay bu djiquen (Sdbire); Falor
bidjor (S6bire): Mal. ba (A. Chev.), guame.rnon (Brosaart).
Gold Coast
Gambia
(Irvine)
:
: Twi
Mand.
aune
lombong
mmenyan
aa.
; Ash. akuairibie,
duru
also kokosekyietu.duru(Nkoranza,
- " medicine "). N. Nigeria : Hausea kwarko (Kano), kwarkoro (Kano
(Kate.,
villages),
but see
kwarakko
also Datura Meld), karanko or kwmranko (Kats), and ? va7iri (Kano); 1a.k'i.ruwa,.Allah (i.c., " refusing
also
the water of Gud," because it throws off the raindrops
from the glaucous and spiny leaves and tends to droop in rain and to dower in the dry w.ather),
hakorin kada (equivalent to the F-l. name) other
k'ank'ora
epithets are
(Kate.),
(fide Bargery)
kank'a aarka
: kamuk'amu.
la bi ka ('may your evil wish recoil on yourself "-see
Bargery under k'ask'ama, c.f. also Barteri'a nigrilana and Indigofera airagulina), k'urer
fak FuL vt'egilanqeru ( " crocodile's teeth "), also boginahi
A'hinoj
(Sok.,
).
but
S. Nigeria
sea also
: Yar. lkdn-lkiln leopard's paw," a loose term), also 19in-arigbo
(J. D. Clarke).
Of tropical American origin the plant is now widespread
subtopics.
in the tropics
In Gold
and
Coast it is said to occur wherever cattle have been pastured.
The use of the oil from the seeds, and perhaps also of the yellow juice of the
is
plant,
fairly widespread amongst pagan tribes in Nigeria as a preventive of white
ants.
90.