Erythrococca kirkii — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Vegetable

Chopped leaves are cooked as a vegetable, often mixed with other vegetables. Ripe fruits are eaten raw. The leaves are popular and sold in local markets.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It grows in forests and along rivers and on the edges of woodland and lakes. It grows up to 1,250 m above sea level.

Africa, East Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, 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 straggling shrub. It can grow 4.5 m tall. The bark is rough. The leaves are alternate and simple. They are oval and 5-15 cm long by 2-8 cm wide. The base is wedge shaped and they taper to the tip. The flowers are in rounded groups 1-2 cm long. There are fewer female flowers than male flowers. The fruit are a 3 lobed capsule.

How to Grow

Plants can be grown from seeds.

Other Uses

The wood is used for fuel.

Production

In Tanzania leaves are collected from February to June.

Other Information

Leaves are sold in local markets. It is a popular vegetable.

Notes

There are about 50 Erythrococca species.

Names & Synonyms

Lutini, Mnyembeue, Mnyembeuwe, Nyakibiki, Nyamtulo

Claoxylon kirkii Mull.Arg.Erythrococca mitis Pax.

References (11)

Anon., 2000, The Role of Non Wood Forest products in Food Security and Income Generation. Report. Tanzania. p 18
East African Herbarium records, 1981,
Glover, et al, 1969
Grubben, G. J. H. and Denton, O. A. (eds), 2004, Plant Resources of Tropical Africa 2. Vegetables. PROTA, Wageningen, Netherlands. p 298
Harkonen, M. & Vainio-Mattila, K., 1998, Some examples of Natural Products in the Eastern Arc Mountains. Journal of East African Natural History 87:265-278
Mutie, F. M., et al, 2023, Important Medicinal and Food Taxa (Orders and Families) in Kenya, Based on Three Quantitative Approaches. Plants 2023, 12, 1145
Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 110
Reis, S. V. and Lipp, F. L., 1982, New Plant Sources for Drugs and Foods from the New York Botanical Garden herbarium. Harvard. p 157
Ruffo, C. K., Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B., 2002, Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania. RELMA p 310
Vainio-Mattila, K., 2000, Wild vegetables used by the Sambaa in the Usumbara Mountains, NE Tanzania. Ann. Bot. Fennici 37:57-67
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew