A climber with lobed leaves and bifid tendrils; fruits ovoid 1-2 ins. long with 

 smooth, bright scarlet skin. Common in the hills and foothills all over the country. 



The fruits are eaten by children but are said to cause sore eyes. The leaves 

 of this species are not eaten. 



Ref. 6. 



120. C. quinqueloba (Thunb.) Cogn. 



Fwifwi (C), mphwimphwi (Ng), cinkhaka (N), lukokoti (Y), mleza (Ngu, Tu). 



A climber with angular grooved, smooth stem ; the leaves are 5-lobed, 3-5 ins. 

 broad, bright green, studded with green papillae; flowers orange-pinJk, corolla 1 in. 

 long, fruits ovoid, 1-2 ins. long with smooth, bright red skin. Found widespread. 



The blades of the leaves are cooked with added groundnuts and tomatoes. 

 Sometimes they are mixed with pumpkin leaves or with kanzota, {Bidens pilosa). 

 The product is well liked. The season is from August to December. The fruits are 

 eaten by children and because of their bright colour are thought to cause sore eyes. 

 They are ripe from December to January. The roots are eaten as famine food but 

 are poisonous unless carefully cooked. The leaves are fairly commonly eaten all over 

 the country. 



Ref. 1. 



121. Gocculus hirsutus (L.) Diels (Menisperm.). 

 Namgoneka (Y), cipapati (Domira Bay). 



A climbing shrub with thin stems, tomentose to glabrate oblong to elliptic 

 leaves, flowers unisexual, inconspicuous, green, berries purplish -black. 



Fruits used with the pods of Acacia subalata to give a blue dye (Fort Johnston). 

 The stems which are fibrous and very whippy are dried in the sun, then soaked in 

 water for a few days and then used for making very beautiful basket work -chairs 

 and settees. (Domira Bay.) 



*122. Cocos nucifera L. (Palm.) Coconut. 



The original home of this palm is uncertain, it grows to a height of 60 ft. or 

 more, normally carrying a fruit spathe in each leaf axil. With its crown of feathery 

 leaves which are frequently 20 ft. in length, it is one of the most graceful of the better- 

 known palms. A few palms are growing at Kota Kota which are believed to have 

 been planted by the first District Commissioner in 1896, they fruited regularly 

 every year while alive and mature, but only four were alive and fruiting in 1947 ; 

 the nuts were usually picked when unripe and rarely germinated if planted. Palms 

 planted at Fort Johnston were fruiting well until they were nearly all drowned by 

 the rise of the Lake level irb the late 1920s and early 1930s. Plantings have been 

 made at Mua but many of the nuts were dug up and eaten at the first attempts. 

 Others were planted and are growing at the R.C. Mission at Port Herald and at 

 Karonga where they are fruiting but only produce small nuts. The Agricultural 

 Department is now establishing plantations in localities thought to be suitable. 

 Hitherto coconut plantings in Nyasaland have been made from any unselected 

 seed with low germination, owing to the nuts being picked from the palms and not 

 allowed to fall when actually ripe. 



Ref. 8; 23; 27. 



123. Coleus esculentus (N.E. Br.) G. Taylor (Lab.) Kaffir Potato, Livingstone 



Potato. 

 Buye, huye wamthengo (N), nyumbu (Y), njowera (Tu, To), njowe (To), cezani (N. 

 Lilongwe). 



A herb growing to about 2 ft. with opposite leaves and yellow flowers, with 

 thickened underground stems which grow like the fingers of a hand from a central 



37 



