Lobelia flaccida

(C. Presl.) A. DC.

Wild lobelia

CampanulaceaeLeaves

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves

The plant is eaten as a vegetable, with the leaves being the edible portion.

Where to Find It

It is a subtropical plant.

Africa, East Africa, Eswatini, South Africa, Southern Africa, Swaziland, 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 erect herb. It grows 5-60 cm tall. It grows each year from seed or can last a few years. The stem is angular with narrow wings. The leaves are 2-7 cm long and about 1 cm wide. There can be teeth along the edge. The flowers are in loose groups and are white, mauve or blue. The fruit is a capsule 1.5 mm long.

Notes

They have also been put in the family Lobeliaceae.

Names & Synonyms

Isidala esiluhlaza

Rapuntium flaccidum C. Presl

References (3)

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 73
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

What to Eat

Where to Find It

How to Identify

Notes

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