394 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



fnitescens, L.). — Dwarf bushy shrub. The fruits are 

 used for pickling, both in their green and ripe states, 

 as well as for making chilli vinegar ; but they are 

 chiefly used, however, for making Cayenne pepper. 

 In India they are used as medicine in typhus and 

 intermittent fevers and dropsy ; they are stomachic 

 and rubefacient, and in native practice are prescribed 

 in gout, dyspepsia, cholera, and ague. — 'Treasury of 

 Botany,' Lindley and Moore ; ' Economic Products 

 of India,' Watt, part v.. No. 263. 

 Distribution : Cape Verd Islands. 



WitJiania somnifera, Dunal. {Physalis somnifera, 

 L.). — A shrubby perennial. The root is said to have 

 deobstruent and diuretic properties. The leaves 

 moistened with warm castor-oil are useful externally 

 applied in cases of carbuncle. They are very bitter, 

 and are given in infusion in fevers. The seeds are 

 employed in the coagulation of milk in making butter. 

 The fruit is diuretic. The root and leaves are power- 

 fully narcotic : the latter are applied to inflamed 

 tumours, and the former in obstinate ulcers and 

 rheumatic swellings of the joint, being mixed with 

 dried ginger and so applied. The Telinga physicians 

 reckon the roots alexipharmic. — ' The Useful Plants 

 of India,' Drury, p. 446. 



Distribution : Upper Guinea, Cape Verd Islands. 



Thorn Apple, Stramonium {I)atii,ra Stramoniiun, 

 L.). — ^A coarse weedy annual, over three feet in height. 



