flowers in terminal spreading racemes or on short lateral shoots sweet scented showy, 

 purple; fruit winged turning pink as it ripens, resembling the fruit of a sycamore. 

 Found at about 4,000 ft. altitude, e.g., near Fort Hill and Mzimba. 



Wood hard and borer- proof. Used for fuel and poles. String is made from 

 the fibre. Before the days of old car tyres, as a source of string for nets, there was a 

 trade to the Lake in it. Nowadays it is used mainly for threading beads to make 

 necklaces. In the past, a coarse kind of cloth, dewere, was woven from it. The 

 roots with those oi mlozi {Adenia cissampeloides), and matholisa {Mikania scandens), 

 are hung on the walls of a hut to keep snakes away and the same medicine is used 

 to cure snake bite. The leaves are eaten when sprouting (Mzimba District). 



Ref. 14; 26. 



405. Sesamum angolense Welw. (Pedal.). 



Cewe, mkuya, citowe thengo, mtsukanthomba (N), nkuyamani (Y), cincesi (H), nyolo- 

 nyolo, maope (Tu), zambwe (Su), cikalenda (Ncheu). 



A herb with erect stem 3-8 ft. high, leaves very numerous, linear, oblong to 

 sublanceolate, 2-4 ins. long, subtomentose ; flowers shaped like those of the foxglove, 

 brilliant purple, 2-2 J ins. long ; fruit a capsule, obtusely quadrangular and 4-sulcate, 

 finely pubescent, beak short and broad, seeds blackish. Flowers from May to July. 

 Widespread to 7,000 ft., at its best at about 3,500 ft. 



The leaves are cooked and form a very slimy product, thelele. In some areas 

 groundnuts are not added as they do not mix in well. The dish is often eaten by 

 women particularly when they are eating bran porridge, gaga, and occasionally by 

 men. It is one of the common dishes to give to babies and invalids. The leaves 

 are used as a substitute for soap. The leaves are pounded with water and the 

 liquid poured into the eyes and also over the ears, nose and mouth to cure smallpox, 

 hence name mtsukanthomba. An infusion of the roots is drunk at the time of labour 

 to hasten delivery. 



406. S. orientale L. (Pedal.). Sim sim, Gingelly, Sesame, Benniseed. 



Citowe (N), mkwiyu (Y), namuhangwa (Ngu), mcesi (Tu), lidonya (Ng), hununya, 

 usambia (Su). 



A much-branched annual, growing to 5 ft., with more or less mealy, glandular, 

 heteromorphous leaves; flowers about 1 ins. long, obhquely campanulate, white, 

 pinkish or tinged with purple and produced from the axils of the upper leaves ; capsule 

 shortly beaked about 1 ins. long, seeds pale brown to almost black, sometimes 

 white,' very small. Grown in considerable amounts in the Lower Shire and Karonga 

 Districts. A small amount is grown in the Chinteche and Mzimba Districts and it is 

 found occasionally in the rest of the country. 



The oil is extracted and added to side-dishes or sold to Indians. The pounded 

 seeds are also added to side-dishes as an alternative to groundnuts. The oil is used 

 for anointing the body. The leaves, umpeza, are cooked as a side-dish (Port Herald). 



Ref. 13; 17; 23. 



407. SidaalbaL. (Malvac). 



An erect woody herb growing to about 2| ft., flowers solitary or clustered, small, 

 yellow, fruit of five carpels, shortly beaked. A widespread weed. 



The leaves are cooked as a side-dish in the Mzimba District. The stems arc 

 strong and several bound together are used as cross supports for grass on hut roofs 

 (Kota Kota District). 

 Ref. 26. 



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