Botanical Name

Byrsocarpus coccineus Schumach. & Thonn. [Connaraceae]

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 1663–1971

Annotations Determinations and Type Specimen Status

On sheet: e guinea dedit Dom. Thonning

Label1: Cuestis n: sp: foliolis 7-9 obtusis glabris racemis 3 floris staminibus pistillo
longioribus Th

Label2: Seen for " Flora Zambesiaca E.J.M. III 64

Label3: Rourea coccinea (Thonn. ex Schum.) Benth. ssp. coccinea var. coccinea det. C. Jonglund
1988 Herbarium Vadense (WAG)

IDC microfiche foto: Isert et Thonning nr. 12 III 4


Remark: Sheet IDC micro. nr. 12 III 6 identically labelled

Byrsocarpus coccineus Schumach. and Thonn. SYNTYPE. Beskr. Guineiske Pl.: 226 (1827)

Ownership and Collection Management History

Thonning 19; dedit Peter Thonning

Common Names

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

Historical Cultural and Traditional Knowledge

[Hepper (1976) p. 44:] "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

C10003443

C10003443

Copyright Owner

Natural History Museum of Denmark

Copyright License

CC BY 4.0 (images) and CC0 (metadata)