Note 179 — V

Petermann’s Mitteilungen, Ergänzungsh., 34. p. 2, and Rohlfs, ii. p. 15. The latter says: ‘The stems of this plant are, when young, four-edged and pulpy, but later become rounded. At the base they are as thick as a man’s arm, and from their juice mixed with that of other plants is prepared the dreaded arrow-poison, the least drop of which, if introduced into a wound, causes almost instant death, according to native accounts.’ Passarge, however, on p. 162 of his book, when mentioning this plant, only states that it is used throughout West Africa as a medicine for gonorrhoea.