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 1663–1975

Annotations Determinations and Type Specimen Status

Labeb1: Herb. Vahl Novum genus 10andra 5gyna altera speciei Thonning e Guinea

Label2: Byrsocarpus puniceus

Label3: Byrsocarpus coccineus Schumach. & Thonn. det. Schellenberg 1911

Label4: 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 II 4

Byrsocarpus puniceus Schumach. and Thonn. SYNTYPE. Beskr. Guineiske Pl.: 227 (1827)

Ownership and Collection Management History

Thonning 14; ex herb. Martin Vahl

Common Names

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

Historical Cultural and Traditional Knowledge

[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

C10003434

C10003434

Copyright Owner

Natural History Museum of Denmark

Copyright License

CC BY 4.0 (images) and CC0 (metadata)