Walleria nutans

J. Kirk

TecophilaeaceaeRootsScore: 46/100

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Bulbs, Tuber, Root

The tubers are eaten raw, cooked in other food preparations, or roasted. It is an important food in some areas.

Where to Find It

It is a subtropical plant. It grows in hot arid places with a marked dry season. In grows in well drained sandy loams. It grows between 950-1,700 m above sea level. It can re-grow after fire. It can grow in arid places.

Africa, Angola, Botswana, Central Africa, East Africa, Namibia, South Africa, Southern Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe,

Countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Comoros, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

A herb with a corm or bulb. It grows 30 cm high. There are 1-5 tubers and they are 2-3 cm across. They occur up to 20 cm below the ground. The leaves occur along the stem. They become larger and closer together up the stem. They are narrow and 7-17 cm long by 1 cm wide.

Nutrition Score: 46/100

Part	Moisture	kJ	kcal	Protein	Vit A	Vit C	Iron	Zinc
Bulb	63.8	582	139	1.7	—	19.8	2.2	0.3

Wikipedia

Source ↗

Walleria nutans is a perennial flowering plant belonging to the genus Walleria. The species is native to Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.

Production

The tubers can be stored for 3 months. In Namibia they are available for 10 months.

Other Information

It is an important food in some areas.

Names & Synonyms

Dchun

Walleria baumii DammerWalleria hockii De Willd.Walleria mackenziei J. Kirk var. nutans (J. Kirk) BakerWalleria muricata N. E. Br.

References (13)

Fox, F. W. & Young, M. E. N., 1982, Food from the Veld. Delta Books. p 256, 349
Jardin, C., 1970, List of Foods Used In Africa, FAO Nutrition Information Document Series No 2.p 111 (As Walleria sp.)
Lee, 1979,
Maguire, 1978
Marshall, 1976,
Peters, 1990,
Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 40
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1999). Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Published on the Internet; http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ceb/sepasal/internet [Accessed 11th June 2011]
Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 105
Silbauer, 1965, 1972, 1981,
Wehmeyer, A. S, 1986, Edible Wild Plants of Southern Africa. Data on the Nutrient Contents of over 300 species (As Walleria sp.)
Welcome, A. K. & Van Wyk, B.-E., 2019, An inventory and analysis of the food plants of southern Africa. South African Journal of Botany 122 (2019) 136–179
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew