Borotutu

Cochlospermum angolense is a tree in the family Bixaceae, native to Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its older name in the botanical record is Maximilianea angolensis. An extract of the tree's bark, called borotutu in African traditional medicine, has been studied in mice for its potential to treat malaria; the study the article cites tested the effect of the extract on the malaria parasite Plasmodium berghei in the mouse. The article's picture shows a bottle of syrup made from burututu roots, used to combat liver, stomach, spleen and urinary tract diseases. The spelling burututu appears in the article beside borotutu. The article is short and gives no further detail on the tree's other uses, on how the bark or roots are prepared, or on any traditional or ritual meaning, so this entry records only the bark extract, the root syrup and the malaria study as reported there.