Floræ Capensis medicæ prodromus, or, An enumeration of South African plants used as remedies by the colonists of the Cape of Good Hope / by L. Pappe.

  • Pappe, L. (Karl Wilhelm Ludwig), 1803-1862.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Floræ Capensis medicæ prodromus, or, An enumeration of South African plants used as remedies by the colonists of the Cape of Good Hope / by L. Pappe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

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    13 broad, ovate, pointed, entire, coriaceous, nervy, trans- versely veined, smooth, involute at base, dotted beneath, stalked. Scape simple, erect, streaked, race- mose, many-flowered. Flowers pedicellate, bracteate, white. The scarlet coloured tuber of this species, which grows on the sides of the Lion's Rump, near Cape Town and else- where, is very muculent, and used externally, in abrasions of the skin and in superficial ulcers. It is also employed by the Mohamedans, in the form of decoction, in amenorr- hcea. Its Cape name is Baviaans-oren. RICHAEDIA. Kth. (Aroidece.) XXI.—I. MONOECIA ANDROGYNIA. LIN. SYST. 94. Richardia africana. Kth. Root thick, fleshy. Leaves radical, glossy, arrow-shaped, cordate at base, stalked ; leaf-stalks shearing, clasping the scape ; scape nearly three-cornered, erect; spathe petal-like, hooded, covering the flower-bearing spadix. Fruit a berry. More than a century ago, this hardy plant, the Ethiopian Calla, has, on account of its large, ornamental, white, cap- like spathe, been cultivated in all the gardens of Europe. In this Colony, where it is indigenous, the fresh leaves, when applied warm to parts affected with gout or rheuma- tism, allay the pain by producing local perspiration. The roots afford good nourishment for the porcupine (Hystrix cristata) Yster-vark, and therefore probably, this conspicuous plant has received the Cape vernacular, but ugly name of Varkens-blaren (pig's-leaves.) MOHRIA. Sw. Filices. XXIV.—CRYPTOGAMIA. LIN. SYST. 95. Mohria thurifraga. Sw. Caudex creeping, fibrous. Stipe filiform, hispid, erect. Fronds bipin- nate, covered beneath with chaffy scales. Pinnce alter- nate, stalked ; pinnules ovate, the upper fruit-bearing- ones, crenate ; the barren-ones deeply incised. This fern grows abundantly on the Cape Mountains. The plant, when bruised, is fragrant and smells of Oli-