purposes as an emollient. The flowers tinge spirits of wine 

 red, or by the addition of a little alum a beautiful violet. 

 Shoes or other similar things are blackened, by rubbing 

 the flowers upon them. In Cochinchina the plant is so 

 common that garden hedges are often made of it. 



Rumf says that in Amboyna it was in his days employed 

 as a common ornament on occasions of festivity and even at 

 funerals. From its constant use for blacking shoes it had 

 acquired the barbarous Portuguese name of Fula Sapato. 



