(2) By pouring on boiling water, leaving for five minutes and skinning by 

 hand. 



(3) By grinding and winnowing off the husks. 



The acrid taste is mainly in the seed coat hence if a simple method could be 

 found of removing the skins, the peas would probably be generally accepted. In 

 India as one of the " dhals " they are an important food. 



Palatability. 



There are marked tribal differences. They are well liked by the tribes in the 

 Southern Province and in the far north but are seldom if ever eaten by the majority 

 of Africans in the Central Province. 



Medicinal Uses. 



The leaves, root and bark are mixed with pounded leaves of msolo 

 {Pseudolachnostylis maprouneifoUa) , a little water is added and the resulting liquid 

 poured into the ears as a cure for earache. 



Ref. 2; 3; 4; 13. 



83. Calotropis procera Ait. (Asclepiad.) 



Citonje (N), letaunde (Y). French cotton. Dead Sea apple. 



A laxly branched shrub with a lactiferous sap, up to 12 ft. with opposite, ovate, 

 glabrous leaves, white or purple flowers in clusters, and inflated follicles containing 

 numerous, flat, brown seeds which are tipped with long silky floss. Widespread 

 at Lake levels, often on the sites of former villages. It is thought not to be indigenous 

 to Nyasaland but to have been introduced by Indians who use it as an aphrodisiac. 



The plants are burnt for salt. The latex has a somewhat caustic effect on the 

 mucous membrane or tender skin. It is poisonous and it has been shewn to contain 

 calatropin, a powerful heart poison. There are very many medicinal uses for the 

 latex and bark in other countries. Fibre is used from it in the Sudan but it is costly 

 to produce. The floss of the seeds is a form of vegetable silk and can be used as 

 substitute for kapok in stufling cushions but is inferior in buoyancy, does not stand 

 rough usage and soon becomes waterlogged. 



Ref. 14; 15; 17; 25; 27. 



84. Canavalia ens if or mis DC. (Papil.) Jack bean. Sword bean or Gotani bean. 

 Two forms of this bean are recorded, a bush form in the foothills up the Dwambazi 



River in an area rarely visited by Europeans, its fruits ripen as late as October and 

 November, and was said to be poisonous and was planted as a deterrent to snakes ; 

 it had large white seeds. A climbing form, which is a robust woody perennial with 

 purple flowers, bearing 9 ins. long thick-skinned pods containing large red thick- 

 skinned beans. Grows well at Lake levels up to 5,000 ft. It has been observed 

 growing luxuriantly as a creeper in one or two villages on the western border of the 

 Mzimba District where the garden huts are each surrounded by a lion-proof stockade 

 on which the people have planted it for ornament and to keep away lions but do not 

 eat the bean. 



It is well known that the beans may be eaten as a pulse, but care must be taken 

 with some varieties as they may be slightly poisonous. The water in which they 

 are boiled should therefore be changed. 



The young pods are cooked as a side-dish. The beans when very young may be 

 cooked with their skins on, when old the thick skins are removed. This is easily 

 done by soaking and skinning by hand. The cooked product is of a coarse mealy 

 texture and has little flavour. The beans were being eaten at the hospital at Fort 

 Johnston in 1942 and were found to be easy to grow and very hardy. A few Africans 

 nearby were also growing them, they were also found at Karonga. 



Ref. 13; 27. 



29 



