Botanical Name

Lantana camara L. [Verbenaceae]

Specimen Type

Herbarium Sheet [Preserved Specimen]

Collector

Peter Thonning

Collection Date-s

1799 – 1803

Collection Location

southern part of the country [Ghana]

Colonial Context

Danish Gold Coast of Africa 1663–2033

Annotations Determinations and Type Specimen Status

IDC microfiche foto: Isert et Thonning nr. 64 I 5-6.

Ownership and Collection Management History

Thonning 127

Common Names

Nanni-kumi [Schumacher/Thonning]

Historical Cultural and Traditional Knowledge

[Hepper (1976) p. 129:] "The leaves have a powerful odour. When a native is bitten by a snake which usually occurs in the foot he immediately tries to stop the circulation of blood by tying a band round the leg as tight as possible; he then looks for a doctor who orders certain superstitious treatments and the use of some medicinal plants. In this case the leaves of this plant are often used in a warm bath and the root is finely macerated with grains-of-Paradise [Aframomum] and lemon-juice and rubbed over the whole body so that the poison shall not spread. At the same time the doctor has some medicine prepared for internal use which I do not know. The root of this shrub will be intermixed with it. Finally he performs some conjuring tricks in order in a secret way to get rid of the snake's teeth which the natives believe are in the wound. Th."

Source

Herbarium C NHMD

NHMD Herbarium C Catalogue Number

C10004117

C10004117

Copyright Owner

Natural History Museum of Denmark

Copyright License

CC BY 4.0 (images) and CC0 (metadata)