The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1903-12-15

err & Co. has received some seeds of
the Ocimum Viride or anti-mosquito
plant of Equatorial Africa, of which
there has been so much i'm current pub
lications pro and con, OF late. Mr.. John
son only planted the seeds short time
ago so that results cannot be known as
yet. The following regarding the plant
and it's services i'm assuaging tne at
lacks of mosquitoes, is from circular
issued by II. Camel & Sons Swanley,
Kent, z. 7. o., from whom the seeds
planted by Mr.. Johnson were obtained
Under the title o, a Pot of BASIL
Mr.. A. Il. Shipley gives in this weeks
Nature an interesting account of a
plant which has the credit of being
abominated by the mosquitoes 1t grows
in Northern Nigeria, and the popular
report appears to be confirmed by ac-
tual experiment. Mr. Shipley's speci-
mems were gathered at Lokoa, a low
lying town where mosquitoes swarm
and Captain Larymore, resident of the
Kabba Province, heard about ii from
the natives who used it as a protec-
! tion. The plant grows wild, though
mot very abundantly in the neighbor-
I hood, so he cultivated specimens at
his house, in pots. There are four of
! THESE DldnlS, edCn ABOUT us large as a.
| Geranium, proved, if placed about the
bed at night, to be as efIicacious as a
mosquito net. Some leaves from them
came into Mr.. Shipleys hands, and
have been identified by the authorities
at Kew with species Of the genus
| Ocimum, the members of which are
more widely known as Basls. This
one, called Viride, is already known as
| am African herb, for Sir w. r. Thisel-
ton-Dyer describes it in his Flora of
! Tropical Africa stating that it is a
perennial, growing from one to two
yards high 1t was figured in the
Botanical Register" of 1928, and there
called the Sierra Leone Fever Plant,
and was said to be in great request
for medicinal purposes, and to have
a very distinct odour resembling that
of the common Balm. A more recent
work states that the leaves, when
| bruised give off the scent of Lemon
| Thyme, and that an infusion of the
plant has been found in Liberia even
better than quinine in all kinds of
fever In India, also, this genus seems
to be well esteemed. One kind furnish
! es a light volatile oil which, on being
kept, crystallizes into a camphor; the
! leaves serve, like Thyme, as a season.
ing in cooking, and their juice Is ad-
minstered in the cold stages of inter-
mittent fever while the seeds are used
as medicine in more than one kind OF
disease Another species, the Holy
Basil is the most sacred plant in the
Hindu religion. The medicinal value
of the Basils is anything but modern
idea. That quaint old folio, The Her
ball or General Historic of Plants,
( gathered by John Gerarde Master in
Chirurgere' gives quite a long cata-
logue of the 'vertues' possessed by
these plants. The juice is good for
headache, dimness of the eyes, and
sluggishness of the digestion; the scent
promotes sneeZing, and is beneficial to
the head and heart the seed is recofN-
mended for 'melhncholicke people,
while an African species is credited
with vet another 'vertue,' that they
t who are stung of the scorpion and have
eaten thereof shall feel no pain at all
1 OF the two British species the COM
moner, or Wild Basil now divided OF
- from the original genus, according to
1.-the same author, appea5eth the payne
81 of the ewes, and the Juice doth munjife
the same and putteth away all Cd
scurity and dimness, all catarrhes and
flowing humors These excellent quail
tiles should, perhaps, make US over
| look the fact recorded in the De-
cameron and the Pot of Basil that
the plant lourishes exceedingly on q
dead mans flesh. That it should be
=, disgusting to mosquitoes is not incred'
ible Those Of North America are sald
o to be kept at a distance by the juice
of one or two herbs, which however
have to be rubbed on the skin. Gerardt
tells us that the decoction of land cal
e trops sprinkled about "killeth feas,
that the small purple willow herb
= when burned, drives away by 1T
smoke 'neas and gnats, and all man
- ner of venemous beasts while the flea
bane and heat-wort Justify their name!
by their actions-the former havini
effects similar to that just described
the latter, when strowed in a chambe
where MANY heas be Ga suggestive re
mark) will drive them away This
he thinks, is because the seed so muci
resembles the insect that the two ar
with difficulty distinguished. but VIII,
this should be a deterrent is hard Z
understand. Those, however, VIII
have travelled in some foreign land
= are familiar enough with insect pow
ders, which, If not in all cases absolute
l. ly fatal, are, beyond doubt, extremel
repulsive to certain nocturnal tormen
tors. If this African Basil will gro'
freely in mosquito-haunted districts,
ID will be a great help in the campaign a
gainst these propagators of malaria
q
'e house or tent, but as most mischief
done at night, the enemy may be rem
dered comparatively tnnocuous"
Captain II. d. LarymOre, X. A., res
dent, Northern Nigeria, writes to th
Times: "a growing specimen OF III
/. Mosquito plant (Ocimum verde
which l have just succeeded In bring
ing home alive from Northern Nigeri;
has been accepted by the authorize
at Kew, where IT can now be seen
can personally testify to the extraol
binary effect which is produced o
mosquitoes by the pleasant Odour Of II
fresh leaves. and by placing two {
: three growing pots OF the plant in eac
room and along the windward veran
dan, house can be kept PRACTICAL
free from these insects One OF tn
malaria giving specimens which
caught alive and tenderly enclose
within leaf of the plant lost con