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Psorospermum tenuifolium

Hook. f.

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Wikimedia Commons - Rebecca Fowlds

wikimedia· cc-by-sa

Wikimedia Commons - Rebecca Fowlds

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Description

A tropical shrub in the Hypericaceae family, found in forests and woodlands, with edible leaves.

This description is brief — help expand it

Edible Uses

The leaves are eaten.

Medicinal Uses

Psorospermum febrifugum has been used as a febrifuge, leprosy treatment, antidote, and purgative. As an ethnomedicine in Tanzania and among the Baganda people of Uganda, it has also been used to treat epilepsy, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. A 1972 study demonstrated that ethanol extracts of the plant exhibited activity in a laboratory setting against leukemia in mice and a human cell line.

Distribution

A tropical plant. It grows in forest and woodland.

Where It Grows

Africa, Central Africa, Congo, East Africa, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, Zambia,

Notes

Also put in the family Clusiaceae.

Also Known As

Catidjacuomo, Codidjancuma

References (3)

  • Fowler, D. G., 2007, Zambian Plants: Their Vernacular Names and Uses. Kew. p 79
  • Jardin, C., 1970, List of Foods Used In Africa, FAO Nutrition Information Document Series No 2.p 96
  • Martin, F.W. & Ruberte, R.M., 1979, Edible Leaves of the Tropics. Antillian College Press, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. p 195

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