Begonia mannii

Hook. f.

BegoniaceaeLeaves

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Leaf stalk

Leaves - cooked and eaten as a vegetable. An acid flavour, they can be used like sorrel leaves (Rumex spp.).

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It grows in forests from the lowland to mountains in West Africa.

Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, Congo, Gabon, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, West Africa,

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 scrambling herb in the Begoniaceae family that grows on trees in West African forests, from lowland to mountain elevations.

Medicinal Uses

The leaves are eaten as a vegetable, and also used as a douche and hip bath, in order to treat inflammation of the vagina and of the uterus. The douche and hi baths are usually in combination with the bark of Cyclodiscus gabonensis.

References (3)

Burkill, H. M., 1985, The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol. 3. Kew.
Laferriere, J. E., 1992, Begonias as Food and Medicine. Economic Botany, Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 114-116
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

What to Eat

Where to Find It

How to Identify

Medicinal Uses

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