3i6 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



The whole plant is used as forage, and the seed 

 largely used as food for poultry. — 'Treasury of 

 Botany,' Lindley and Moore, &c. 



Distribution : Nile Land, Lower Guinea. 



Crabs' Eyes, Jequerity, Prayer Beads, Jumble 

 Beads, &c. {Abrics precatorius, L.). — Small shrub. 

 The root has a sweetish taste, is mucilaginous, and 

 is said to form an excellent substitute for Liquorice 

 (Glycyrrhiza glabra), as it has similar properties. The 

 small egg-shaped and scarlet-coloured seeds, with a 

 black patch or scar at one end, are well known, and 

 have long been used in various parts of the world as 

 beads and for many other ornamental purposes. In 

 India they are employed as a standard weight by 

 jewellers and druggists under the name of Rati, and 

 in Egypt have been used as food, but are hard and 

 very indigestible. Recently these seeds have been 

 brought into notice, under the name of " Jequerity," 

 as a valuable addition to the list of plants used in 

 ophthalmia, and the results after careful investigation 

 were so surprising that they will form an important 

 agent in ophthalmic therapeutics, inasmuch as granu- 

 lations which had long resisted other treatment were 

 cured by Jequerity in from twenty to thirty days. 

 According to Dr. Moura these seeds have long been 

 used in the provinces of Ceara and Piauhy in Brazil 

 with good results in chronic granulations, but require 

 very careful application. Hindoo medical authors 



