L’une des nombreuses plantes de la pharmacologie traditionnelle, reconnue pour ses propriétés antalgiques, émollientes, et antiseptiques. Son usage est également courant dans les pratiques rituelles et religieuses.
Sur le plan médicinal, ses feuilles sont généralement utilisées pour des massages crâniens dans le but de calmer les migraines et les maux de tête. Dans le contexte religieux, on l’utilise pour le culte des ancêtres. Sur ses feuilles sont servis les aliments offerts, en guise d’offrandes, aux ancêtres. Ces feuilles servent également au transport et à la conservation des crânes d’ancêtres dans le sanctuaire familial. Dans le cadre de certains rites, elles sont attachées au front du candidat comme symbole d’apaisement. Cet apaisement, selon les dires, viendrait du parfum de ses feuilles dont l’effet est émollient (Fojionang 2019).
One of the many plants used in traditional pharmacology, the cow-foot leaf is recognized for its analgesic, emollient, and antiseptic properties. It is also widely used in ritual and religious practices. Medicinally, its leaves are generally used for head massages to soothe migraines and headaches. In religious contexts, it plays a role in ancestor worship, with food served on its leaves as offerings to the ancestors. The leaves are also used to transport and preserve ancestral skulls in the family shrine. As part of certain rites, they are attached to the candidate’s forehead as a symbol of appeasement, said to come from the fragrance of the leaves, which has a soothing effect (Fojionang 2019).
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