221 



,k when asked to clear a piece of bush in which cowhage may be 

 growing are willing to do so if allowed to burn the bush, but not 

 otherwise," (Wardleworth, Year Book Pharm. 1900, p. 423). 



Ref. — " Setae Mucunaa," in Pharmacographia, Fliickiger and 



Hanbury, pp. 189-190 (Macmillan & Co., London, 1879) " Mucuna 



pruriens " in Med. PI. Bentley & Trimen, No. 78. " Mucuna 



pruriens" in Diet. Econ. Prod. India, Watt, v. 1, 1891, pp. 286-287. 

 " Mucuna" in Pharm. Journ. [4] xiii. 1901, p. 272. 



Mucuna urens, DC. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 185. 



III. — Tuss. Ant. ii. 1. 13 (Negretia urens) ; Mart. Fl. Bras. xv. pt. 1, 

 t. 46, f. 1. 



Vernac. names. — Ojo de Buey ; Matos (Porto Rico, Cook & 

 Collins) ; Grand pois pouilleux ; Oeil de bourrique (French, Planclion 

 & Collin^ Tussac). — Ox-eye-bean ; Horse-eye-bean ; Cali Nuts. 



Common throughout West Africa. Cosmopolitan in the Tropics. 



The seeds are used in America as a diuretic, and in decoction as 

 a soothing application to hemorrhoids (Planchon & Collin, Les 

 Drog. Simpl. ii. p. 542). In the West Indies they are used for 

 decorative purposes. They have occasionally appeared as a sub- 

 stitute or, more properly, as an adulterant of the Calabar Bean 

 (Physostigma venenosum). 



Canavalia, Adans. 



Canavalia ensiformis, DC. ; Fl. Trop. Afr. II. p. 190. 



///, — Rheede, Hort. Mai. viii. t. 44 {C. incurva) ; Jacq. Ic. PI. Rar. 

 iii. t. 559 (Dolichos acinaciformis) ; Wight, Ic. PI. Ind. Or. iii. t. 753 ; 

 Bot. Mag. t, 4027 ; Schweinf. Reliq. Kotschyanae, tt. 20, 21 (O. 

 polystachya) ; Sinclair, Fl. Hawaii t. 6 (?) ; Church, Food Grains, 

 India, p. 415 ; Duthie, Field Crops, t. 71 ; 



Vernac. names. — Poponla (Lagos, MacGregor) ; Popondo (Lagos, 

 Dawodu) ; Popondo (Oloke-Meji, Foster) ; Puakani (Hawaii, 

 Sinclair) ; [Akankan (Guam), Palangpalang (Philippines) Safford"! ; 

 Sembara (Saharunpur, Duthie) ; Aka Natamame or Shiro Natamame 



(Japan, Veitch) ; Sword Bean ; Horsebean ; Snakebean ; Patagonian 



Bean ; Overlook Bean. 



Lagos ; Oloke-Meji ; Nupe, and Cosmopolitan in the Tropics. 



In India a preparation of the leaves burnt in mustard oil is used 

 as an ointment (Duthie, Field Crops, iii. p. 1). Cultivated in many 

 parts for the sake of the pods, which when young and tender are 

 said to be scarcely inferior to French beans (Duthie, Field Crops, 

 iii. p. 1). The white-flowered and white-seeded varieties are con- 

 sidered the best for this purpose (Firminger, Man. Gard. Bengal, ed, 

 4, p. 156 ; Watt, Comm. Prod. India, p. 248). The young and half- 

 grown pods are also eaten especially in curry by the natives of India, 

 and the mature seeds are eaten (Watt, I.e.). The mature beans 

 roasted and ground have been used in Texas as a substitute for 

 coffee ; they are indigestible unless deprived of their outer skin. 

 Experiments have proved these beans to be unsuitable for feeding 

 stock (Lloyd & Moore, Mississippi Bull. No. 39, 1896, p. 166 ; 

 Safford. PI. Guam, p. 211). The seeds are used by some as food 

 and given to fatten hogs in Jamaica (Rot. Mag. I.e.). 



The natives on the Nile at Chopeh amuse themselves at a game 

 with the seeds, which they spin upon their wooden stools (Grant, 

 Trans. Linn. Soc. xxix. p. 60). 



