Sonchus luxurians — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves

Leaves - cooked. They are chopped and cooked alone or can be mixed with other vegetables such as Solanum, Bidens or Galinsoga; coconut milk or pounded groundnuts are added and then they are eaten alone or along with a staple food such as ugali or rice.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. In grows in grasslands and on mountain sides. In Tanzania it grows between 1,500-2,000 m above sea level.

Africa, Burundi, East Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda,

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 robust herb. It keeps growing from year to year. It can be erect or trailing. It grows 1-2 m long. It is succulent with white latex. The older stems are hollow and become woody at the base. The leaves are alternate. They are divided into lobes along the stalk. The lobes usually curve away from the tip. The wide lobes near the base clasp the stem. The leaves are 15 cm long. The flowers occur in heads. They are yellow. They are about 8 mm across. They are at the ends of branches in the axils of leaves near the top. The fruit are very small and dry. They have stiff straight bristles.

How to Grow

Plants can be grown from seeds.

Medicinal Uses

The leaves are pounded and soaked in cold water. The infusion is used as a remedy for fever and stomach upsets.

Production

Leaves are collected during the rainy season.

Other Information

The leaves are sold in local markets.

Names & Synonyms

Ikigeembegeembe, Ipempu, Kwake, Mchunga, Mshunga pwapwa, Msunga, Pwake, Sunga

References (5)

Fleuret, 1979,
Grivetti, L. E., 1980, Agricultural development: present and potential role of edible wild plants. Part 2: Sub-Saharan Africa, Report to the Department of State Agency for International Development. p 50
Msuya, T. S., et al, 2010, Availability, Preference and Consumption of Indigenous Foods in the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania, Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 49:3, 208-227
Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 92
Ruffo, C. K., Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B., 2002, Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania. RELMA p 616