422 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



ment, and is a constituent of the well-known curry 

 powder, and of many other articles of Indian cookery. 

 Turmeric is likewise used for dyeing wool, silk, &c., 

 and is occasionally employed in pharmacy for colour- 

 ing ointments and other preparations.—' Medicinal 

 Plants,' Bentley and Trimen, vol. iv.. No. 269. 



Distribution : Cultivated in West Tropical Africa. 



Grains of Paradise, Guinea Grains, Melegueta 

 Pepper {Amomum Melegueta, Roscoe). — Herbaceous 

 perennial. The seeds are of a hard texture and have 

 a shining golden brown or reddish brown colour, and 

 are marked with a somewhat beak-shaped hilum of a 

 paler hue than the rest of the seed ; when crushed 

 and rubbed between the fingers their odour is feebly 

 aromatic, and their taste very pungent and burning. 

 The principal constituents of grains of paradise are a 

 volatile oil, resin, and starch, and their properties are 

 due to the resin and volatile oil which are essentially 

 contained in the seed-coats. The pungency depends 

 upon the resin. These seeds were formerly regarded 

 in this country as very injurious, but this idea is quite 

 erroneous. In Africa they are esteemed as the most 

 wholesome of spices, and are generally used by the 

 natives to season their food ; and in Great Britain and 

 the United States of America they are chiefly used in 

 the preparation of cattle medicines, and to give 

 pungency to cordials, and also to give an artificial 

 strength to spirits, wine, beer and vinegar. Their 



