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Boerhavia diffusa

Dibatabata (Kikongo), hogweed

 

A semi-prostrate annual herb with ascending flowering stems up to 60 cm tall. A common weed.

 

The whole plant and particularly the root is used medicinally in Bas-Congo as a snake bite antidote and to counter inflammation. Goats eat the plants and sometimes return home with edible caterpillars, also called Batabata, around their mouths.

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Uploaded on May 21, 2009