Botanical Name

Byrsocarpus coccineus Schumach. & Thonn. [Connaraceae]

Specimen Type

Herbarium Sheet [Preserved Specimen]

Collector

Paul E. Isert

Collection Date-s

1784

Collection Location

Guinea [S Ghana; S Togo; or SW Benin]

Colonial Context

Danish Gold Coast of Africa 1663–1879

Annotations Determinations and Type Specimen Status

IDC microfiche foto: Isert et Thonning nr. 12 II 5

Common Names

Plöm-tjo; Sio-tami (fruit) [Schumacher/Thonning]

Historical Cultural and Traditional Knowledge

Byrsocarpus puniceus Schumach. & Thonn. [Hepper (1976) p. 44-45:] "Use as in the preceding species [B. coccineus] [...] The bark is scraped off the fresh root or failing that off the dried one; is beaten into a soft pulp and applied to an old leg injury; also the wound is bathed with a decoction. William Parker has assured me that he has seen a native take the leaves of this plant along with a few grains-of-Paradise [Aframomum]; chew them and apply them to the bite of a poisonous snake; and that he afterwards found him quite well; but he did not know of what species the snake was. Other natives assured me that it was not the healing power of the plant which had been effective here but that it was a fetish cure which could help him but no one else as the plant was his fetish. Th."

Source

Herbarium C NHMD

NHMD Herbarium C Catalogue Number

C10003435

Copyright Owner

Natural History Museum of Denmark

Copyright License

CC BY-NC 4.0 (images) and CC0 (metadata)