Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
African Names —
Ga: blofo ngme-tsho; Krobo: wasiwakwe; Malinke: kidi ganian; Serere
(Senegal): ndohar; Shona: chohwa; Sotho: lethsowe, lethsowi, letjoi, mphufi; Tonga: zaba-zaba; Twi:
ahwenee, mmfora; Xhosa: umhlavutha; Yoruba: apikan; Zulu: iloqi, iyoli
Description —
This is a herbaceous annual up to 1 m high. It has many branches, which gives
it a dense appearance. The dried leaves are grayish green in color; they are brittle, twisted, and
often broken. The leaves are variable, 8-25 cm long and 7-17 cm wide; they are shortly petiolate,
ovate, or triangular-ovate in shape; they are acuminate at the apex and have a sinuate-dentate mar-
gin. The fresh leaf is somewhat dagger shaped. A microscopic description of the leaf is included
in the work of Trease and Evans.
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The flowers are white, with streaks of purple appearing some-
times on the ribs and tips of the corolla lobes. They are solitary in the axils and point upward.
The plant produces round, greenish fruits or capsules that enclose black, flat, reticulated, kidney-
shaped seeds. The plant has a bitter, saline taste with a disagreeable odor when fresh, but the dried
plant has a tea-like odor.
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Habitat and Distribution —
This plant grows wild in most parts of the continent and is often
found around village homes and on abandoned farmlands and poorly maintained parks.
Ethnomedicinal Uses —
The leaf extract is an ingredient in remedies for cough and chest com-
plaints. The crushed leaves or seeds are mixed with palm oil and applied to severe cases of insect
bites and stings and also on inflammations to allay the pain. The seeds are sometimes used as an
insecticide.
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The leaves are used in the form of cigarettes or pulverized and burned as an inhalant
for the treatment of asthma.
Constituents —
The plant is a known source of tropane alkaloids hyoscyamine, atropine, and
scopolamine. The total alkaloid yield has been estimated to be between 0.06% and 0.50%. The
young leaves contain mainly scopolamine, whereas hyoscyamine is the major constituent of the
mature leaves. In addition to these alkaloids, the plant contains other minor tropane derivatives, as
well as chlorogenic acid and lectins. The seeds contain up to 30% fixed oil and about 0.2% alkaloids.
Pharmacological Studies —
The drug is valued in clinical medicine as a cholinergic agent. The
alkaloids of
Datura
are used as a spasmolytic, antiasthmatic, and anticholinergic. The drug has been
employed in proprietary products for the treatment of excessive salivation in Parkinson's disease.
In high doses,
Datura
induces strong hypnosis. Hyoscine, also known as scopolamine, in thera-
peutic doses causes CNS depression, manifesting as drowsiness, amnesia, fatigue, and dreamless
sleep with a marked reduction in rapid eye movement (REM). Scopolamine is frequently misused by
law enforcement agencies in the preparation of the so-called truth serum. Scopolamine is employed
as an adjunct to anesthetic agents or for preanesthetic medication.
Datura
leaves are incorporated
into “cigars” smoked as a euphoria-inducing substance and frequently abused. Hepatonephrotoxicity
has been reported with Sudanese
D. stramonium
administered to rats.
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DICHROSTACHYS CINEREA
Botanical Name —
Dichrostachys cinerea
(Linn.) Wight et Arn.
Synonyms —
D. glomerata
(Forsk.) Chiov.,
Cailliea glomerata
(Forssk.) J.F. Macbr.,
Desmanthu
mutans
(Pers.) DC.,
Mimosa bicolor
Bacleex DC.
Family —
Leguminosae
African Names —
Hausa: dundu; Igbo: ami ogwu; Yoruba: kara
Description —
Dichrostachys cinerea is a
thorny shrub, growing up to 8 m in some places.
The bark is brown, peeling off in strips. The twigs and young leaves are densely hairy. The leaves
are tripinnate, from 5 to 10 cm long and with 8-15 pairs of pinnae, with each pinna being up to
4 cm long and sharing a rod-like gland with the opposite pinna. Each pinna bears 10-25 pairs of
short, narrow, crowded leaflets. The spines often bear leaves. The inflorescence consists of densely
crowded, stalkless, white-pink, or mauve filaments, borne in the axils of the leaves, on stalks about
