Acalypha volkensii
Pax
Dindi
EuphorbiaceaeLeaves
gbif · cc-by-nc-sa
MBG
MBG
gbif · cc-by-nc-sa
MBG
MBG
gbif · cc-by
Meise Botanic Garden
Meise Botanic Garden
What to Eat
Edible parts: Leaves, Vegetable
The leaves are eaten as a vegetable.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical plant.
Africa, East Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, 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 shrub or small tree. It grows 5 m tall. There are prickles along the stem. The leaves are twice divided and there are 8-18 pairs of pinnae. There are up to 50 pairs of pinnules on each pinnae. The flowers are yellow. They are in large clusters at the ends of branches. The pods are flattened.
Notes
There are over 450 Acalypha species. They are tropical. There are 225 in tropical America.
References (4)
- Johns, T., and Kokwaro, J.O., 1991, Food Plants of the Luo of Siayo District, Kenya. Economic Botany 45(1), pp 103-113
- Kokwaro, J. O. and Johns. T., Luo Biological Dictionary. p 79
- 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
- World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
