FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 319 



Ordeal Bean of Old Calabar {Physostigma vem- 

 nosum, Balf.). — Large perennial climber. Under the 

 name of " Esere " the seeds are employed as an ordeal 

 by the natives of Old Calabar. Its principal me- 

 dicinal use is as a local application to the eye, to 

 contract the pupil in certain diseases and injuries 

 of that organ. It has however been used in nervous 

 affections, and in the treatment of strychnine poison- 

 ing, &c. The active principle is a peculiar alkaloid 

 called Physostigmia, or Eseria. — 'Medicinal Plants,' 

 Bentley and Trimen, vol. ii.. No. 80, &c. 



Distribution : Upper Guinea. 



Physostigma cylindrosperma. Holmes {Miccuna 

 cylindrospermtcm, Welw.). — A wide-climbing shrub. 

 The seeds of this plant have for some time past been 

 mixed with the Calabar beans of commerce {Physo- 

 stigma venenosum, Balf). The attention of Mr. Holmes 

 having been attracted by this fact, he compared the 

 available herbarium material of the two plants, and 

 found them to be closely allied, and has substituted 

 the name of P. cylindrosperma for that of Mucuna 

 cylindrosperminn, Welw. The actual yield of Eserine 

 in the two sorts of Calabar bean is now under investi- 

 gation. The seeds of P. cylindrosperma are ^ longer 

 than those of P- ve?tenosicm, Balf — ' Pharmaceutical 

 Journal,' 3rd series, vol. ix., p. 913. 



Distribution : Lower Guinea. 



Sugar Bean of Jamaica {Phaseolus hmattis, L.). — 



