Common Name:

General Information

Setaria megaphylla is a robust, clump-forming perennial grass with erect culms up to 10mm in diameter; the plant can grow up to 3 metres tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and construction material.

Known Hazards

The seed has been reported as toxic to small birds in S Africa[].
Thickets of the grass are reported to harbour tsetse fly[].
Wilted grass can produce hydrocyanic acid and is then harmful to livestock[].

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Senegal, through Nigeria and Sudan to Somalia, south to Angola, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and S. Africa; Arabian Peninsular

Habitat

Shady and damp sites on forest margins[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Perennial
Height	3.00 m
Pollinators	Wind
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

The whole plant reduced to ash is used as a vegetable salt[]

Medicinal

The plant has anodynal and analgesic properties[]. It has a reputation for beneficial action on urino-genital troubles[]. Combined with Cissus aralioides and Selaginella sp, it .is used to prepare a bath for someone with fever[].

A leaf-decoction has a sedative effect on coughs, and is also indicated in the treatment of oedema[]. It is also given as a treatment for amenorrhoea and blennorrhoea.
The leaf decoction is put into a bath or given by mouth to babies suffering convulsions or fits of epilepsy[].
The crushed leaves are applied topically to bruises[]. Crushed with salt, they are rubbed on the forehead for relieving a headache[]. Macerated with some chips of the bark of a Croton (species unknown), it is used in draught or douch for treating blennorrhoea[].

The leaf-sap, combined with that of Dracaena steudneri, is used in the treatment of mental derangement[].
The sap is massaged into areas of pain and is squeezed onto a sore after it has been cleaned[]. For a more vigorous action the affected part may be scarified by rubbing it with the rough leaf, then the ash of the calcined plant applied[].

The ash of the plant is applied to sores, and is also used to assuage the pain caused by the spit venom of Naja nigricollis, the spitting, or black-necked cobra, which is said to be the most dangerous snake of Africa[] .

The root is held to be abortifacient[]. Decocted in palm-wine or pineapple juice or water, with Senna occidentalis or Ficus sp sometimes added, it is taken for the treatment of blennorhoea, while the same preparation is given to a pregnant woman to ease delivery[]. In cases of listlessness and sleepiness a root-decoction is given as a pick-me-up, and after downing it, the patient’s face is washed with a leaf-decoction[].

Other Uses

The woody culms are used in hut-building[].

The broadly pleated linear leaves are used in Ghana to wrap plantains (?for cooking)[].

Propagation

Seed -

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