FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 415 



the result of an enquiry made into the cause of an 

 unusual rate of mortality among the prisoners. It 

 appears that the young shoots when eaten produce 

 sickness and act as an irritant poison, cumulative in 

 its effects. It is said to be well known to the natives,, 

 and that a most powerful purgative prepared by them, 

 and called " agoomoo," consists of a dried extract of 

 the. juice. — Pharmaceutical Journal, August i, 1885, 

 p. 105. 



Phyllanthus Niruri, L. — Annual. In India this spe- 

 cies, together with P. urinaria, L., are held in con- 

 siderable repute by the natives as diuretics, and as 

 such are much employed in dropsical affections, 

 gonorrhoea, &c., but they do not appear to possess any 

 special claims to notice. — ' Pharmacopoeia of India,' 

 Waring, p. 205. 



Distribution : Common in Tropical Africa. 



African Oak or African Teak {Oldfieldia africana^ 

 Bth.). — Large tree. The wood is extremely heavy,, 

 and is imported into this country from the West Coast 

 of Africa for ship-building purposes. It is very useful 

 for beams, keelsons, waterways, shelf-pieces, &c., and 

 particularly in steamboats, as it will stand a great 

 degree of heat in the wake of fires where there is a 

 free current of air ; but when in confined situations it 

 decays rapidly. The heart-wood does not escape 

 the attacks of large larvae, or from being perforated 



