Hagenia
Encyclopedia
Hagenia abyssinica is a species of flowering plant
native to the high-elevation Afromontane
regions of central and eastern Africa
. It also has a disjunct distribution in the high mountains of East Africa from Sudan
and Ethiopia
in the north, through Kenya
, Uganda
, Rwanda
, Burundi
, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania
, to Malawi
and Zambia
in the south.
It is known in English
as African redwood, brayera, cusso, hagenia, or kousso, in Amharic
as kosso, and in Swahili
as mdobore or mlozilozi. It is the sole species of genus
Hagenia, and its closest relative is the Afromontane genus Leucosidea
. Synonyms include Banksia abyssinica, Brayera anthelmintica, Hagenia abyssinica var. viridifolia and Hagenia anthelmintica.
It is a slender tree
up to 20 m in height, with a short trunk, thick branches, and thick, peeling bark. The leaves
are up to 40 cm long, compound with 7-13 leaflets, each leaflet about 10 cm long with a finely serrated margin, green above, silvery-haired below. The flower
s are white to orange-buff or pinkish-red, produced in panicle
s 30-60 cm long.
It is generally found from 2000-3000 m elevation, in areas receiving 1000-1500 mm of rainfall annually. It can be found growing in mixed afromontane forest with Podocarpus
, Afrocarpus
, and other trees, and in drier afromontane forests and woodlands where Hagenia is dominant, or in mixed stands of Hagenia and Juniperus procera
.
Hagenia is used as a food plant by the larva
e of some Lepidoptera
species including Turnip Moth
.
, C31H33O10, which is soluble in alcohol
and alkali
s, and may be given in doses of two grammes. Kosso is also used in the form of an unstrained infusion of the coarsely powdered flowers, which are swallowed with the liquid. It is considered to be an effective anthelmintic
for pork tapeworm
(Taenia solium). In its anthelmintic action it is similar to Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas).
Use of Kosso was borrowed from Ethiopia, where as Richard Pankhurst
quotes Merab
as saying that "to mention it was to cover a quarter of that country's pharmacopeia." However, its primary use was, well into the 19th century, to combat human tapeworm infestations, which was endemic due to widespread consumption of dishes containing raw beef, such as kitfo
and gored gored
. Frequent doses of kosso, about once every two months, was the common cure. Richard Pankhurst cites numerous examples of this practice, noting that "the two-monthly event virtually constituted a holiday for the patient, who withdrew from all normal activity, the statement 'the master has taken his kosso,' being synonymous with 'he cannot receive you today.' Kosso-drinking in fact served as an excuse or justification for not keeping appointments, being used by the debtor who did not wish to meet his creditor, by the accused who wished to avoid going to court, and by the official who sought to delay answering the Emperor's summons."
Kosso or ኮሶ in Amharic is also the name of the human tapeworm, Taenia saginata. Treatment with Hagenia is often unsuccessful resulting in only partial removal of the intestinal worm.
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
native to the high-elevation Afromontane
Afromontane
Afromontane is a term used to describe the Afrotropic subregion and its plant and animal species common to the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula...
regions of central and eastern Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. It also has a disjunct distribution in the high mountains of East Africa from Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
and Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
in the north, through Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, Burundi
Burundi
Burundi , officially the Republic of Burundi , is a landlocked country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east and south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Its capital is Bujumbura...
, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, to Malawi
Malawi
The Republic of Malawi is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Its size...
and Zambia
Zambia
Zambia , officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west....
in the south.
It is known in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
as African redwood, brayera, cusso, hagenia, or kousso, in Amharic
Amharic language
Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
as kosso, and in Swahili
Swahili language
Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...
as mdobore or mlozilozi. It is the sole species of genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Hagenia, and its closest relative is the Afromontane genus Leucosidea
Leucosidea
Leucosidea sericea, commonly known as Ouhout in Afrikaans, is a species of evergreen tree or large shrub native to the Afromontane regions of Southern Africa. It is the sole species in the genus Leucosidea...
. Synonyms include Banksia abyssinica, Brayera anthelmintica, Hagenia abyssinica var. viridifolia and Hagenia anthelmintica.
It is a slender tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
up to 20 m in height, with a short trunk, thick branches, and thick, peeling bark. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are up to 40 cm long, compound with 7-13 leaflets, each leaflet about 10 cm long with a finely serrated margin, green above, silvery-haired below. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are white to orange-buff or pinkish-red, produced in panicle
Panicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....
s 30-60 cm long.
It is generally found from 2000-3000 m elevation, in areas receiving 1000-1500 mm of rainfall annually. It can be found growing in mixed afromontane forest with Podocarpus
Podocarpus
Podocarpus is a genus of conifers, the most numerous and widely distributed of the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. The 105 species of Podocarpus are evergreen shrubs or trees from 1-25 m in height...
, Afrocarpus
Afrocarpus
Afrocarpus is a genus of conifers belonging to the podocarp family Podocarpaceae. Afrocarpus was designated a genus in 1989, when several species formerly classified in Podocarpus and Nageia were reclassified. Two to six species are recognized.As the name intimates, Afrocarpus is native to Africa...
, and other trees, and in drier afromontane forests and woodlands where Hagenia is dominant, or in mixed stands of Hagenia and Juniperus procera
Juniperus procera
Juniperus procera, commonly known in English as African Juniper or East African Juniper, is a coniferous tree native to the mountains of eastern Africa from eastern Sudan south to Zimbabwe, and the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula...
.
Hagenia is used as a food plant by the larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e of some Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
species including Turnip Moth
Turnip Moth
The Turnip Moth is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is a common European species, but it is also found in Asia and Africa, very likely having been spread by the international trade in nursery stock...
.
Medicinal uses
Kosso, kousso or cusso is a drug which consists of the panicles of the pistillate flowers of Hagenia. At the time of the eleventh edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the drug was imported "in the form of cylindrical rolls, about 18 inches in length and 2 inches in diameter, and comprises the entire inflorescence or panicle kept in form by a band wound transversely round it." The active principle is koussin or kosinKosin
Kosin may refer to the following places:*Kosin, Łódź Voivodeship *Kosin, Lublin Voivodeship *Kosin, Lubusz Voivodeship *Kosin, Drawsko County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship...
, C31H33O10, which is soluble in alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
and alkali
Alkali
In chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base,...
s, and may be given in doses of two grammes. Kosso is also used in the form of an unstrained infusion of the coarsely powdered flowers, which are swallowed with the liquid. It is considered to be an effective anthelmintic
Anthelmintic
Anthelmintics or antihelminthics are drugs that expel parasitic worms from the body, by either stunning or killing them. They may also be called vermifuges or vermicides .-Pharmaceutical classes:...
for pork tapeworm
Pork tapeworm
Taenia solium, also called the pork tapeworm, is a cyclophyllid cestode in the family Taeniidae. It infects pigs and humans in Asia, Africa, South America, parts of Southern Europe and pockets of North America. In the larval stage, it causes cysticercosis which is a major cause of seizures in...
(Taenia solium). In its anthelmintic action it is similar to Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas).
Use of Kosso was borrowed from Ethiopia, where as Richard Pankhurst
Richard Pankhurst (academic)
Richard Keir Pethick Pankhurst OBE is a British academic with expertise in the study of Ethiopia.-Early life and education:...
quotes Merab
Paul Merab
Paul Merab , a Georgian physician, pharmacist and researcher of Ethiopia....
as saying that "to mention it was to cover a quarter of that country's pharmacopeia." However, its primary use was, well into the 19th century, to combat human tapeworm infestations, which was endemic due to widespread consumption of dishes containing raw beef, such as kitfo
Kitfo
Kitfo , sometimes spelled ketfo, is a traditional dish found in Ethiopian cuisine. It consists of minced raw beef, marinated in mitmita, a spicy chili powder based spice blend, and niter kibbeh...
and gored gored
Gored gored
Gored gored is a raw beef dish eaten in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Whereas kitfo is minced beef marinated in spices and clarified butter, gored gored is cubed and left unmarinated. Like kitfo, it is widely popular and considered a national dish.- See also :...
. Frequent doses of kosso, about once every two months, was the common cure. Richard Pankhurst cites numerous examples of this practice, noting that "the two-monthly event virtually constituted a holiday for the patient, who withdrew from all normal activity, the statement 'the master has taken his kosso,' being synonymous with 'he cannot receive you today.' Kosso-drinking in fact served as an excuse or justification for not keeping appointments, being used by the debtor who did not wish to meet his creditor, by the accused who wished to avoid going to court, and by the official who sought to delay answering the Emperor's summons."
Kosso or ኮሶ in Amharic is also the name of the human tapeworm, Taenia saginata. Treatment with Hagenia is often unsuccessful resulting in only partial removal of the intestinal worm.
Further reading and external links
- Hagenia abyssinica at the AgroForestry Tree Database (World Agroforestry Centre)
- Eriksson, T., Hibbs, M. S., Yoder, A. D., Delwiche, C. F., & Donoghue, M. J. (2003). The Phylogeny of Rosoideae (Rosaceae) Based on Sequences of the Internal Transcribed Spacers (ITS) of Nuclear Ribosomal DNA and the TRNL/F Region of Chloroplast DNA. International Journal of Plant Science 164(2): 197–211 (PDF version).