Description
A small, palm-like annual herb with a rosette of compound leaves whose leaflets fold up rapidly when touched.
Medicinal Uses
Used across West and Central Africa for wounds, skin disorders, fever, malaria, stomach-ache, and urinary complaints; powdered seed mixed with shea butter is applied to wounds in Nigeria, and the plant is used as an antidote for scorpion sting and snakebite in Cameroon.
Ritual / Cultural Uses
Because of its touch-sensitive, folding leaves, the plant is used in traditional magic and protective charms in parts of West and Central Africa.
Cultivation
A small wild herb of damp, seasonally wet grassland and farmland.
