Secamone punctulata

Decne

ApocynaceaeRootsSpice/Beverage

gbif · cc-by
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

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Meise Botanic Garden

gbif · cc-by
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

What to Eat

Edible parts: Root - tea

The root is prepared as tea.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It grows in dense forest. In Somalia it has been recorded at 1,500 m above sea level.

Africa, East Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania,

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 climber or small shrub. It can climb into trees. The leaves have short stalks. The leaves are 1.3-5 cm long by 0.1-2 cm wide. The base is rounded. There are several flowering shoots 5-20 mm long by 2-25 mm wide. They are orange to yellow and have a sweet scent. The fruit are follicles 4.5-5.5 cm long by 0.3-0.5 cm wide.

How to Grow

Plants are grown from seeds.

Medicinal Uses

It is used as medicine.

Other Uses

The flexible stems are used as rope. All parts of the plant contain latex. No uses are mentioned.

Notes

There are about 80 Secamone species. They are in Africa with most in Madagascar. Also put in the family Asclepiadaceae. It is used as medicine.

Names & Synonyms

Osimantel

References (4)

East African Herbarium records, 1981,
Ferns, Tropical plants.
Kuhnlein, H. V., et al, 2009, Indigenous Peoples' food systems. FAO Rome p 239
Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 66