328 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



Tropics for its brilliant flowers, which are called by 

 the French in the West Indies " Fleurs de paradis." 

 All parts of this plant are said to be emmenogogue 

 and purgative, and to be frequently used for those 

 purposes by the natives of the West Indies. The 

 wood is said to make the best of all charcoal, and 

 the bark, which is acid and tonic, is said ■ to be 

 poisonous. The leaves and flowers are used in decoc- 

 tions in fevers in the West Indies, and the leaves alone 

 as a substitute for senna in the East Indies. The 

 powdered seeds are used as a remedy in colic pains.— 

 ' Useful Plants of India,' H. Drury ; ' Vegetable 

 Materia Medica of Western India,' W. Dymock, p. 208. 

 Kew Museum. 



Distribution : Sierra Leone, Loanda, and Zanzibar. 



Bonduc Seeds, Grey Nicker Seeds or Nuts, Guilan- 

 dina Seeds (jOcesalpinia Bonducella, Roxb.). — Scram- 

 bling shrub. The root bark is used as a tonic. The 

 seeds are regarded in India as a tonic and antiperiodic, 

 and are there especially employed in intermittent 

 fevers, and also as a tonic in debility and other cases. 

 A fatty oil is obtained from these seeds in India, and 

 is reputed to be useful in convulsions, paralysis, &c. ; 

 it is also used as a cosmetic. Various other medicinal 

 uses are ascribed to these seeds by the Indian doctors, 

 but their principal use seems to be for making into 

 necklaces, bracelets, rosaries, &c. ; and strung upon red 

 silk are worn as a charm by the native women in India, 



