Subject: Re: African 'muti'; active ingredient?
From: [email-masked] (F. Jacot Guillarmod)
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 20:15:08 GMT
Newsgroups: bionet.plants

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Brad Riesenberger) writes:

>an anyone help me identify the active ingredient in
>the African plant callled'muti'?
>A database search of Chemical Abstracts retreived
>nothing; Biological Abstracts had three hits but
>did not provide the information I'm looking for.
>Any information or lit references would be
>most appreciated. Many thanks.

From "Common Names of South African Plants", C.A. Smith, Botanical
Survey Memoir No 35, Department of Agricultural Technical Services,
1966:

muti.	From the Zulu "umuti", a tree or shrub, whence also medicine,
	since most native medicines were derived from plants.  The
	"muti" generally figures in witchcraft practices, in
	incantations, sprinkling on fire, etc.  The term has crept into
	European usage in Natal as a general term for medicine.

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