Scientific Name :Bersama abyssinica Vernacular Name :Umukaka; Umuturamuginna Family name :Melianthaceae Geographic Distribution :: Stripe forest, Arbustive savanna, bush on volcanic lava 1300 -1500 m.
Botanical Description Species of medium sized evergreen tree in the francoacea family former Melianthaceae. The leaves are pinnately divided with a strongly winged rachis. The inflorescence is a spike.
The leaves may reach I m long; winged axis
Or nt winged, 10 pairs of folioles,with leaf blade generally spear shaped to oblong or oval – oblong of 2-22 cm long and 1-8 cm wide. Foliole axis often without wings leaves poorly pubescent.
Medicinal Use The leaves crushed are used as snuff for colds, or chewed as an aphrodiac. Juice from the bark is used by Arusha people as a purgative. Dried powdered bark or its decoction is used as an enthelmintic for small children. The extract from young twigs is also drunk for the treatment of dysentery and roundworm. A root decoction is drunk thrice a day for epilepsy, and also drunk for for Haemorrhoids and some used for washing the wounds.
