FORESTRY OF WEST AFRICA. 443 



prescribed in cases of dysuria. The leaves are made 

 into a poultice for the piles. The ashes are applied 

 to ringworm of the scalp, and in some parts of 

 India are known as " Pana salt." — ' Materia Medica of 

 Western India,' Dymock, p. 661. 

 Distribution : Upper Guinea. 



Taro (Colocasia antiquorum, Schott \Caladi21m 

 esculentum, Vent.]). — The pressed juice of the petioles 

 of this Aroid is highly styptic, and is said to arrest 

 arterial haemorrhage. In Bengal the leaves and 

 petioles are eaten by the natives. The young leaves 

 may be eaten like spinach, but like the root they 

 require to be well cooked in order to destroy the 

 acridity peculiar to Aroidaceous plants ; the leaves 

 also afford a fibre, and the corms a starch. A con- 

 siderable number of varieties are cultivated in India. 

 — 'The Useful Plants of India,' Drury, p. 154, &c. 



Distribution : Cultivated in Upper Guinea. 



Cyperace^. 



Motha of the Hindus {Cyperus rotundus, L. [C 

 hexastachyus, Rottb.]). — The tubers are sweet and 

 slightly aromatic, and are sold in the Indian bazaars. 

 They are used by perfumers on account of their 

 fragrance, and also in medicine as a tonic and stimu- 

 lant, and have been employed in the treatment of 

 cholera ; in a fresh state they are given in infusion as 



