Monanthotaxis caffra
(Sond.) Verdc.
Dwaba-berry
(c) Ricky Taylor, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) Ricky Taylor, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) Ricky Taylor, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit
The fruit are eaten raw, dried, or made into jams and jellies.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical and subtropical plant. It grows in dry places. It grows in areas with a rainfall below 600 mm. It can grow in arid places.
Africa, East Africa, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, Southern Africa, Swaziland,
How to Identify
A woody climber or small tree. It grows attached to other plants. It can be erect or a scrambler. The leaves are alternate and have short stalks. The leaves are oval and 7 cm long by 3 cm wide. There are a few cream coloured flowers. They are about 1.5 cm across but hardly open. The clusters of fruit mature separately with small fleshy, one-seeded fruit.
Notes
There are about 50 Monanthotaxis species.
Names & Synonyms
Amazivendu, Chiculhula, Dwababessie, Idwaba, Imxope, Isidwaba, Libundza, Lochentima, Masweleti, Maswete, Sititane, Umazwensalonhlope, Umqogi-wezihlanya, Umtitane, Umxobe, Viriga
References (12)
- Fox, F. W. & Young, M. E. N., 1982, Food from the Veld. Delta Books. p 83
- Long, C., 2005, Swaziland's Flora - siSwati names and Uses http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora/
- Palmer & Pitman, 1972,
- Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 55
- 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 28th March 2011] (As Popowia caffra)
- Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 18
- Schmidt, E., Lotter, M., & McCleland, W., 2007, Trees and shrubs of Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park. Jacana Media p 110
- Swaziland's Flora Database http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora
- van Wyk, Be., & Gericke, N., 2007, People's plants. A Guide to Useful Plants of Southern Africa. Briza. p 48
- van Wyk, B-E., 2011, The potential of South African plants in the development of new food and beverage products. South African Journal of Botany 77 (2011) 857–868
- 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
