Eriosema ellipticum
Welw. ex Baker
Indian pea
(c) Bart Wursten, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Bart Wursten
(c) Dan Lee, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Seeds
The seeds are eaten.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical plant. It can grow in arid places.
Africa, Angola, Central Africa, Congo, East Africa, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Southern Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
How to Identify
An erect shrub. It has many branches. It can grow 1-3 m tall. The branches are black. Young parts can have a rusty covering of hairs. There is usually one leaflet but there can be three. They are silver or grey underneath. They are 3-9 cm long by 1-4 cm wide. There are hairs underneath. The flower clusters are at the ends of branches. The standard is yellow and the keel is a paler yellow. The fruit are pods 2-3 cm long by 1 cm wide. They have a dense covering or golden or grey hairs. The seeds are black and shiny. They are 6-8 mm long by 4-5 mm wide and 3 mm thick.
