426 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



limited to swampy lowlands or margins of lagoons, 

 and seldom attains six feet in height. The portions 

 of the plant held mostly in requisition by the negroes 

 are the seeds, which are employed more as an article 

 of perfumery than of medicine. The Timneh women 

 pulverise the fresh seeds between two stones, and 

 when reduced to a fine powder triturate with Bamba- 

 tulu or Donah Butter {Butyrospermum Parkii, Kot- 

 schy), and then use it to anoint their bodies. Afzelius 

 states that the powdered seeds are applied to the 

 forehead, temples and neck in pains of the head. It 

 may however be considered doubtful whether this is 

 their legitimate use, as the native doctors invariably 

 prefer the pungent and peppery seeds of Amoinum 

 Melegueta or A. escapitni for rubefacient purposes. — 

 ' Pharmaceutical Journal,' vol. xvi., 1857, p. 513. 

 Distribution : Upper Guinea. 



Ginger {Zingiber officinale, Roscoe). — Perennial 

 herb. The dried rhizomes of this plant are known 

 as ginger. Two forms enter into commerce and are 

 respectively termed uncoated or scraped ginger, and 

 coated or unscraped ginger ; the latter is alone official 

 in the British and Indian Pharmacopoeias. For the 

 preparation of the uncoated or scraped ginger the 

 rhizomes are dug up when about a year old, then 

 washed and scraped so as to remove their cortical 

 integument or skin, after which they are dried in the 

 sun ; this kind has been sometimes termed '' white 



