Melhania ovata
(Cav.) Sprengel
(c) Jerome Viard, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Jerome Viard
(c) Jerome Viard, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Plant
The plant is edible.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical plant. It grows in dry or desert areas.
Africa, Asia, Atlantic, Australia, Cape Verde, Chad, East Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mauritania, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen,
How to Identify
A shrub. It has many branches and is low growing. The leaves are broadly oval and 2-2.5 cm long by 1.5-1.8 cm wide. They are hairy on both surfaces. There are teeth along the edge. The flowers can occur singly or in groups or 2-4 in the axils of leaves. They are 1.5 cm across and yellow. The fruit is an oval capsule.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Melhania ovata is a plant in the family Malvaceae.
Notes
There are about 60 Melhania species. Also put in the family Sterculiaceae and Pentapetaceae.
Names & Synonyms
Lolo-branco, Mato-branco
References (5)
- Duarte, M. C., et al, 2022, Diversity of Useful Plants in Cabo Verde Islands: A Biogeographic and Conservation Perspective. Plants 2022, 11, 1313 p 6
- East African Herbarium records, 1981,
- Flora of Pakistan. www.eFloras.org
- 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 188
