Gomphocarpus glaucophyllus
Schlechter
Blue leaf, Bladder bush
ApocynaceaeLeaves
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) Robert Archer, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Robert Archer
(c) Robert Archer, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Robert Archer
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) tjeerd, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) tjeerd, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) tjeerd, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) tjeerd, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Leaves
The young leaves are cooked and eaten.
Where to Find It
It is a tropical plant.
Africa, East Africa, Eswatini, Namibia, South Africa, Southern Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
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
An unbranched herb. It grows 1 m tall. The stems are thick and have a few hairs. There is milky sap. The leaves are simple and do not have stalks. They are oval and heart shaped at the base. They are blue-green. The flowers are in a group with equal length stalks form one point. They are cream-coloured and 4 cm long with 7-15 flowers in the group The fruit is a follicle tapering to a point.
Notes
Also put in the family Asclepiadaceae.
Names & Synonyms
Bloumelkbos, Gunaperi, Gunatela, Gwendere, Melkbos, Umbohlobohlo
Asclepias glaucophyllus (Schltr.) Schltr.Asclepias lilacina Weim.
References (4)
- Fox, F. W. & Young, M. E. N., 1982, Food from the Veld. Delta Books. p 105 (As Asclepias glaucophylla)
- Long, C., 2005, Swaziland's Flora - siSwati names and Uses http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora/
- Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 24
- Welcome, A. K. & Van Wyk, B.-E., 2019, An inventory and analysis of the food plants of southern Africa. South African Journal of Botany 122 (2019) 136–179
