Asclepias affinis
(Schltr.) Schltr.
Cartwheels
ApocynaceaeLeaves
wikimedia · pd
USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab from Beltsville, Maryland, USA (via Wikimedia Commons)
USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab from Beltsville, Maryland, USA (via Wikimedia Commons)
wikimedia · pd
USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab from Beltsville, Maryland, USA (via Wikimedia Commons)
USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab from Beltsville, Maryland, USA (via Wikimedia Commons)
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Trisha Leaf (via Wikimedia Commons)
Trisha Leaf (via Wikimedia Commons)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Leaves
The young leaves are cooked and eaten as a spinach.
Where to Find It
A tropical plant.
Africa, Eswatini, South Africa, Southern Africa, Swaziland,
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. It grows 50 cm tall. It is stout and erect but can lean over. It is unbranched. The leaves have short stalks. The leaves are 7 cm long by 4 cm wide and broadest just above the base. They taper to a blunt tip. The flowers are at the top. There can be 25 flowers in a dense group that are turned sideways. They can be pink, purple or greenish yellow.
How to Grow
Plants can be grown from seed or cuttings.
Notes
There are 100 Asclepias species.
Names & Synonyms
Tshalale
Gomphocarpus affinis Schltr.
References (6)
- Fox, F. W. & Young, M. E. N., 1982, Food from the Veld. Delta Books. p 103
- Ogle & Grivetti, 1985,
- Martin, F.W. & Ruberte, R.M., 1979, Edible Leaves of the Tropics. Antillian College Press, Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. p 177
- Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 61
- Plowes, N. J. & Taylor, F. W., 1997, The Processing of Indigenous Fruits and other Wildfoods of Southern Africa. in Smartt, L. & Haq. (Eds) Domestication, Production and Utilization of New Crops. ICUC p 185
- Swaziland's Flora Database http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora (As Asclepias albens)
