. 657 



SCFTAMINEAE, 



Kaempferia, Linn. 



Kaempferia aethiopica, Benth. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. VII. p. 294. 



III. — Schweinf. Fl. Aethiop. t. 1 {Cienhowshia aethiopica) , 



Vernac. nayne. — Limiiiyar Kwadi (Ilausa, Dalziel), 



Lagos, Lokoja, Zungeru, Zaria, Bornu, Ilorin in Nigeria, and 



found in tlie Gold Coast and East Africa. 



Tubers eaten as a ginger-Kke spice, East Africa (Engl. Pflan. 



•Ost. Afr. B. p. 265; root aromatic, River Rovuma (Kirk, Herl). 



Kew). 



Large magenta or lilac coloured flowers, in stony ground, 

 common, early rainy season, Lokoja (Parsons, Herb. Kew); 

 common wild flower of Northern Provinces, flowers blue purj)le, 

 l)egins to flower before the rains start and before the leaves appear 

 (Lamb, Herb. Kew); flowers large purple, common in grassy 

 plains from Oyo to Ilorin (Barter , Herb. Kew). 



CosTUS, Linn. 



Costus afer, Xer; Fl. Trop. Afr. VII. p. 299. 



/Z7.— Bot. Reg, (1822) t. 683; Bot, Mag, t. 4979. 



Vernac. names. — Ka Ki Zuwa (Hausa, Dalziel) ; Achikka 



4(Zungeru, Dalziel) ; Ukweroha (Benin, Dennett). Smooth Sierra 



Leone Costus (Bot. Mag. I.e.), Bush Cane (Sierra Leone, Scott 

 Mliott). 



Old Calabar, Zungeru, Katsina Allah, Abinsi, Aboh (Lower 

 N'iger), &c., in Nigeria, and also kno"v\Ti from the Cameroon 

 River, Congo, Fernando Po, Gold Coast and Sierra Leone. 



Valued by the natives as a specific against nausea, the part 

 Tised is the stem after stripping off the leaves and peehng (Bot. 

 Mag. Lc); the outer part of the stem, cut into strips and used 

 to make baskets, Lower Dahomey, where the plant is cultivated 

 for the purpose (Clievalier, Bull. Soc. Nat. d'Accl. France, 1012, 

 p. 317). 



An ornamental plant 5-8 ft. high. The Botanical Magazine 

 describes the method of propagation as pecuHar and states that 

 "*^ it has no seed nor does it propagate from suckers, but the 

 flower head after shooting out its flowers and by its weight 

 bending the long stem to the ground gradually withers while a 

 new plant arises from its base." 



Costus lucanusianus, J. Braun <b Schumann : Fl, Trop. Afr. 

 VIL p. 299. 



/ZZ.— Gartenfl. xli. 1892, t. 1379 ; Schlechter, Westafr. Kautsch. 

 Exp. p. 65. 



Vernac. name. — Bosanga (W.Africa, Mountmorres, Thompson) ^ 

 Oban in S. Nigeria (Talbot, Hert. Kew) and also known from 

 the Cameroons and Lower Congo. 



