540 



Vernuc, names .—F a^vin alayafu (Hausa, Dalziel); Soko 

 Yokoto (Lagos, Daivodu ; Oloke Meji, Dodd); Abore (Benin, 

 Dennett) ; Kawodue, Tarbar (Sierra Leone, Scott Elliot) ; Ntcha- 

 wodueh, Torbor, Shokotor (Gold Coast, CoL Rep. Misc. No. 1, 

 1891, p. 36) ; Sarwali (India, Watt, Moloney) ; Nogeito (Japan, 



Woolley, Moloney). 



Lagos, Yola,'^ Benin, Nupe in Nigeria and also occurring in 



Arabia, S.E. Asia, and Malaya. 



A pot-herb, and eaten by cattle and buffaloes, India (Diet. 

 Econ. Prod. India). The seeds are officinal being an efficacious 

 remedy in diarrhoea (I.e.) ; used as a medicine in Japan (Woolley, 

 Mus. Kew). An annual, 1 to 4 ft. high, a common Aveed ; but 

 sometimes cultivated — said not to be cultivated in Nigeria but 



used as a pot-herb there (Dalziel, Hausa, Bot. Yoc. p. 7). 

 Celosia cristata, Linn, a cultivated state of C. argentea is 



wild 



parts of the world (Fl. Trop. Afr. I.e. p. 18). This plant is 

 well known in gardens as the " Cocks-comb." It is said (Agric. 

 News, Barbados, 1917, p. 349) in an article on " Salads and 

 .^Spinach " that " the best spinach of all the Amaranths is 

 afforded by the young plants of Cocks-comb " and it is recom- 



with 



4-5 in. hig 



Celosia trigjnia, Linnr, Fl. Trop. Afr. VI, Sect. 1, p. 19. 



Yernac. names.— Nanufo or Nanafo (Katagum, Dalziel) ; 

 Kagon (Uganda, Cunningham); Isiblaza (Zululand, Hutcliinson) , 



Upper Guinea from Senegal to the Cameroons and widely 

 distributed in Tropical Africa ; found also in Madagascar and 

 Arabia. 



Used in Lokoja in the treatment of pustular skin eruptions 

 (Parsons, Herb. Kew) ; as a medicine for tape-worm, Nigeria 

 (Dalziel, Hausa, Bot. Voc. p. 77); a reputed cure for tape- 



worm, Uganda (Brown, Cunningham, Herb. Kew) ; leaves and 



flowers eaten in Zululand in times of scarcity (Kew Bull. 1898, 

 p. 53) ; leaves eaten as a vegetable, Uganda (Speke and Grant, 

 Herb. KeAv), 



A straggling annual, 1-4 ft. high ; a common weed often in 



cultivated ground. 



Ajviaranthus, Linn. 



Amaranthus Blitum, Linn, ; El. Trop. Afr. VI. Sect. 1, p. 35. 



IZZ.— Sowerby & Smith, Eng. Bot. xxxi. t. 2212; Rchb. Ic. 

 Bot. PI. Crit. V. t. 471; Fl. Danica, xiii. t. 2246; Zenker, Fl. 

 Thuringen, vii. t. 73; Baxter, Brit. Bot, vi. t. 482; Syme. 

 Eng. Bot. vii. ed. 3, t. 1177, Kerner k Oliver, Nat. Hist. 

 PL L p. 411, f. 104. 



Wild Amaranth, Green Amaranth. 



Onitsha, Katagum, Nupe, in Northern Nigeria ; mdely dis- 

 tributed in other parts of Tropical Africa and many warm 

 coimtries. 



