428 FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 



then well stirred and the fibrous parts wrung out by 

 hand and thrown away, the milky liquor is afterwards 

 pressed through a hair sieve or coarse cloth and 

 allowed to settle, the" clear water being drained off. 

 At the bottom of the vessel is left a white mass of 

 starch which is again mixed with clean water and 

 drained ; lastly the mass is dried on sheets in the sun 

 and is pure starch. The rhizomes yield about one- 

 fifth of their weight of starch. Arrowroot or Maranta 

 starch is white, odourless and tasteless, and enters 

 commerce either in the form of a powder, or of more 

 or less aggregated masses which rarely exceed a pea 

 in size. Arrowroot possesses demulcent and nutritious 

 properties, and is a valuable demulcent in bowel 

 complaints and diseases of the urinary organs, and 

 is also an agreeable article of food. The mashed 

 rhizomes have been employed by the South American 

 Indians and others to counteract the effects of wounds 

 caused by poisoned arrows. The expressed juice has 

 also been stated to be an antidote to poisons taken 

 into the stomach, and to the bites of venomous insects 

 and reptiles. — ' Medicinal Plants,' Bentley and Trimen, 

 vol. iv.. No. 265. 



Distribution : Cultivated in West Tropical Africa. 



Katemfe or Katemphe of the Akoos and other 

 Yoruba tribes. Miraculous fruit of the Soudan 

 {Thaumatococcus \_Phrynium Danielli, Bennett]). — 

 The fruits of this plant are commonly used by the 



