Brachiaria jubata

(Fig. et De Not.) Stapf

PoaceaeSeeds/Nuts

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(c) Marco Schmidt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA)

What to Eat

Edible parts: Seeds, Cereal

Seeds are used as a cereal and the plant serves as a famine food.

Where to Find It

A tropical plant. It grows on valley soils and near swamps and damp places. It is often in areas that are seasonally flooded and grows in mountain regions in West Africa. It grows between 500-2,900 m altitude. It can grow in arid places.

Africa, Angola, Burkina Faso, Central Africa, Congo, East Africa, Ghana, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, West 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 grass that keeps growing from year to year. It forms tufts. It grows 60-120 cm high. The leaves are flat and rather broad. They are 5-30 cm long by 3-17 mm wide. The flowers occur as up to 10 on a stalk.

Other Uses

The grass is fibrous-rooting and has potential for strengthening bunds, banks and for the consolidation of roadsides.

Other Information

It is a famine food.

Notes

There are about 100 Brachiaria species.

Names & Synonyms

Bondim-o, Burugu, Labar, Que-el

Brachiaria bamaensis VanderystBrachiaria brevis StapfBrachiara fulva StapfBrachiaria soluta StapfPanicum jubatum Fig. & De Not.Urochloa jubata (Fig. & De Not.) Sosef

References (7)

Bircher, A. G. & Bircher, W. H., 2000, Encyclopedia of Fruit Trees and Edible Flowering Plants in Egypt and the Subtropics. AUC Press. p 63 (As Brachiaria fulva)
Burkill, H. M., 1985, The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol. 2. Kew.
Dalziel, J. M., 1937, The Useful plants of west tropical Africa. Crown Agents for the Colonies London.
Jardin, C., 1970, List of Foods Used In Africa, FAO Nutrition Information Document Series No 2.p 1
Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 19
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 8th May 2011]
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (As Urochloa jubata)