Baccharoides lasiopus — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Medicine

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. In East Africa it grow between 1,050 and 2,650 m above sea level.

Africa, East Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia,

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 woody herb. It can grow 3 m tall. It can be climbing and grow 4.5 m long. The stems branch near the flowers. The leaves are oval to sword shaped and wedge shaped or rounded at the base.

Medicinal Uses

Powdered leaves of the species are used in a decoction to treat indigestion and stomach ache while extracts of the plant are used by the Kikuyu to treat malaria. Farmers in Kenya also use the plant to ward off weevils from harvested maize.