Vernac. names.—Beni (Lagos, Moloney); Ridi, Karkashi, Nome. Marasiri (Yola, Dalziel); Ridi (Hausa, Dudgeon); Til (Bengal, Dymock); Til (Sierra Leone, Scott Elliot); Beniseed (Sierra Leone, Garrett); [Kinu Thorny (Sierra Leone), Nguilla, N’gilla, Anguilla, Uanguilla, Ricola, Ocoto (Angola), Gergelim (Portuguese) Welwitsch]; Béné, Louboungay, Diguilliny, Foré (F.W. Africa, Pobéguin); Sim-Sim, Eirawi (Sudan, Bull. Imp. Inst. xi. 1913, p. 56); Sim-Sim (Zanzibar, Kew Bull. 1892, p. 90); Chitowe (Port. E. Afr. Johnson; Katunga, Scott); Mafuta (Mozambique, Negreiros); Voahazo (Madagascar, Heckel); Kunjit (Afghanistan, Aitchison); Ajonjoli (Porto Rico, Cook & Collins); Ajonjoli (Cuba, Baker); Hsiang Yu (Ssuchuan, China, Hosie); Gingili (India, Watt); Goma (Japan, Nagai); Chi-ma (China, Smith).—Palaver Sauce Plant (Sierra Leone).
Believed to be a native of Tropical Africa; widely spread in the Tropics and Sub-Tropics.
The chief use of this plant is the production of oil from the seed, used everywhere for food, also for soap-making and as a substitute for olive oil. In India, used occasionally for lighting, for anointing the body, in medicine, perfumery, and in making sweetmeats; the seeds are also made into sweetmeats, and, toasted and ground, they are made into cakes, etc; a lotion, made from the leaves and a decoction of the root, is used as a hair wash; and the stalks are used as fuel and as manure (Dict. Econ. Prod. India).
The cake made from the residue after the extraction of the oil is an important cattle food.
The exports of seed from Northern Nigeria were, in 1912, 1,058,319 lb., value £2972; 1913, 2,718,795 lb., value £9245, the approximate local purchasing price being £7 per ton (Col. Rep. Ann. No. 821, 1914, p. 33). Marseilles is perhaps the most important centre of the trade in Europe, to which port the quantity of seed consigned from India alone is approximately 700,000 tons annually.
The price of Beni seed from West Africa, in the Liverpool Market, July, 1914, was £17 per ton, and in July, 1915, £15–£15 10s. per ton.
The cultivation in Tropical Africa is essentially native and comparatively easy. Two principal varieties are grown—“black seeded” and “white seeded”; the white may vary from pure white to pink or red; the oil from the black seed is more suitable for industrial purposes and that from the white for food.
The seed may be sown broadcast or in rows 1–1½ ft. apart, and about 10 lb. will be required to sow an acre.
It thrives in sandy loam and comes to maturity in 3–5 months. The sowings should be arranged so that the crop will have plenty of moisture while growing in the early stages, approximately for 2 months, and drier conditions when the plants are flowering and ripening the seed. When ripe the plants may be cut with a matchet near the ground, put into stacks to dry, and finally the seed beaten or shaken out from the capsules. A good crop would be from 350–700 lb. of seed per acre.
The list of illustrations (p. 511) and the reading list (p. 512) are not transcribed.