GRVL Fun Facts

Trees/shrub

Common Name: Broad-leaved Croton

Swahili Name: Mfurufuru

Usage and treatment

Part used: Leaves, fruits, seeds and stem
 Attractive tree often planted to provide shade in plantations
 Stabilizes and enriches the soil
 Seeds are used as a fish poison
 A vegetable salt is prepared from the ashes of the burnt leaves
 Most parts of the plant are used to treat various conditions
 The juice from the leaves is used as an anthelmintic to rid the body of parasites and toxins
 A root decoction is used as an anthelmintic for tapeworm
 The juice is also for dealing with skin problems, applied on wounds to hasten clotting and treat sores, warts and ringworm
 The leaves or young shoots are eaten to treat fever and oedema
 A boiled leaf decoction is drunk, or the ashes taken orally, as a treatment for cough
 A decoction of the young leafy shoots, combined with Justicia schimperiana, pepper, butter and milk, is used in the treatment of jaundice, and for an eruptive disease resembling small-pox
 An extract of leaves is used against itchy scalp, as a purgative, to treat malaria and venereal diseases
 The bark is an ingredient for effective purgative and vermifuge
 The seed is eaten to procure abortion
 A preparation of the seed is instilled into the ear as a remedy for ear-troubles
 The crushed leaves and seed mixed are drunk in water as a remedy for tapeworm.

Fun fact:
 Eburru forest has diverse habitats
 It’s home to 188 known species of birds
 Here are some of the most beautiful ones

Doherty's bush shrike

Eastern double-collared sunbird   

By Kilonzo, senior naturalist at the Great Rift Valley Lodge