Natural remedies › West African & Caribbean West African and Caribbean remedies: 488 plants and preparations, graded by evidence This is the fastest-growing part of our library and the least well served elsewhere: prekese, bitter leaf, scent leaf, guinea hen weed, sinkle bible, bissy. Many are foods first and remedies second, and the traditions travelled with people — the same plant carries a Yoruba, an Akan and a Jamaican name, and the pages keep all of them because that is what readers search. Laboratory work is common here; controlled trials in humans are not, and the grades show it.
A A — consistent trial evidence 4 B B — some trial evidence 20 C C — limited or mixed evidence 108 D D — little evidence beyond tradition 66 – Insufficient evidence 276 African birch African birch (marke) African birch chewing stick African copaiba balsam African copaiba balsam tree African elemi / incense tree resin African frankincense African ironwood bark African kino / rosewood bark African laburnum (drumstick cassia) African laburnum / drumstick tree African locust bean (dawadawa) African locust bean (dawadawa, iru) African locust bean bark African mahogany bark African myrrh resin African nutmeg (calabash nutmeg) African nutmeg (calabash nutmeg, ehuru) African oil bean (ugba, ukpaka) African peach African peach (country fig) African peach (false gardenia) African peach (tafashiya) African peach / pin cushion tree African peach root bark African pear (ube, butter pear) African satinwood chewing stick African star apple (agbalumo, udara) African yellow wood African yellow wood bark Afzelia (kawo) bark Akara aje root Akuamma bark Albahaca Allspice Almond (sea almond) altamisa Amor seco (tick clover, desmodium) Anamú Annatto Asthma weed Asthma weed (snake weed) Ato vine Avocado leaf Avocado pear (leaf and seed) Bagaruwa (gum arabic thorn) bark and pod Bagaruwa (gum arabic tree) Baobab bark Bay bay geranium Bay rum tree Bazilik big thyme Bitter bush Bitterwood Black beniseed leaf (ekuku) Black nightshade leaf / efo odu Black plum Blood leaf / bloodroot Blood tree / amuje bark Blood wiss bois bandé bois d'Inde Boundary tree Boundary tree (akoko leaf) Boundary tree bark Breadfruit Breadfruit leaf Bridelia (coast gum) Bridelia (ira bark) Bridelia (opam) Bridelia bark Brimstone tree bark Bristly starbur Broad leaf plantain Broad leaf thyme Broadleaf plantain Broom weed Bush banana / finger root Bush cane Bush cane (ginger lily) bush mint Bush mint (bush tea bush) Bush tea / Gambian tea bush Bush tea bush (Gambian tea bush) Button weed (craw-craw herb) bálsamo de Tolú calabash Calabash nutmeg (African nutmeg) Camwood Camwood / osun Candle wood / toothache bark carpenter grass Cashew bark Cattle stick (carpolobia) caña agria (cana-do-brejo) cedro Chadon beni Chainey root Chaney root Charcoal tree (sesea) Chewing stick (West African prickly ash / candle wood) Cho-cho Christmas bush (dovewood) Christmas bush (gyama) Coat buttons (tridax) Colic mint Country tea Cow foot leaf Cowfoot leaf Cucumber Damiana Dasheen Dawadawa (locust bean) bark Desert date Diente de León Drumstick cassia (African laburnum) Drumstick cassia bark Dry-zone cedar root bark Egusi melon Ehuru Escallion Ethiopian pepper / hwentia Ewedu Fagara / candle wood (toothache root) False cotton / yellow root False nutmeg bark False thistle (mountain thistle) Fat-leaf basil Finger root (bush banana) Finger root / eruju root bark Fluted pumpkin (ugu leaf) Fluted pumpkin / ugu Fluted pumpkin seed Frankincense tree resin Gambian tea bush Gambian tea bush (bush tea, lippia) Giyayya Giyayya bark Grains of Selim / Ethiopian pepper Grains of Selim / hwentia Grapefruit gros basilic Guayacán Guinea Hen Weed Guinea pepper (Ethiopian pepper, uda) Guinep Gumbo limbo gungo pea leaf Gungo peas Haemorrhage plant (wild sunflower) Hog plum Hog plum (African plum) Hog plum (iyeye leaf) Hog plum bark Hog weed Hogweed Hoja Santa Horsewood (mosquito plant) Hospital-too-far (tree spinach) huito Hwentia (Ethiopian pepper / grains of Selim) Hwentia (Ethiopian pepper) Hwentia (Negro pepper, uda) Idi chewing stick Ira (bridelia bark) Irish Moss Jamaican Iroko bark Jackass bitters Japana jatobá John Charles June plum Jute mallow (ewedu, ayoyo) Jute mallow / ewedu Jícaro Khus khus Langbodo (forest anchomanes) Leaf of Life Lemon grass Lemon grass / fever grass Lignum vitae Love bush Love-in-a-mist man better man Mancinella Mango bark Mauby Mauby bark Medina mucura Naseberry Negro pepper (uda, Guinea pepper) Nicker nut Nturukpa (red sandalwood) Nyame dua / stool wood bark Odii bark Ofema root Ofram bark Ogea gum Oil palm (palm kernel oil) Okoho / ajara stem Orange-milk tree / haronga Pako ijebu chewing stick Palo mulato Pear leaf Pepper fruit pichana Pigeon pea pigeon pea leaf Pigeon wood / sesea pimento Pleurotus Tuber-regium Prickly pear Prodigiosa Ram-goat dash-along Rawaya (false cotton root) Red-heart tree rose apple Roucou Sabara Sabara (guiera) sacha culantro Salt and oil tree Salvia Sandpaper leaf Satadua (mallotus) Saúco sea grape Search-mi-heart shado beni shame bush Shame weed Shandilay Shiny bush shoe black shower of gold Silk cotton tree bark Sindian (African laburnum root) Sour orange leaf Sour plum (wild olive) Spanish needle Spanish thyme Spear grass root Spreading hogweed star apple Stone breaker (chanca piedra) Stool wood (onyame dua) Stool wood (onyame dua, alstonia) Stool wood / God's tree strong back Strophanthus hispidus Sugar cane Sweet broom sweet sage Tannia Ti marie Ti-baume Trumpet bush Trumpet tree ubos Utazi Uziza Uziza (West African black pepper) Velvet leaf Vervine Vetiver Waterleaf Wild basil Wild cane Wild custard apple Wild Dagga wild okra Zapote Blanco Zeb-a-pique Zèb a pik Not every remedy names a tradition. Browse the full A–Z index for all 3,787 remedies, including the 255 with no recorded tradition.
