Efulensia clematoides

C. H. Wright

PassifloraceaeLeavesPotential hazards — see below

gbif · cc-by-nc-nd
Patricia Barberá & West & Central Africa program

gbif · cc-by-nc-sa
MBG

What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves

The leaves are cooked as a vegetable and eaten with meat or fish.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It grows in open, damp secondary jungle in West Africa.

Africa, Central Africa, Congo, Gabon, Nigeria, 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 tropical creeping vine in the Passifloraceae family found in open, damp secondary jungle in West Africa.

How to Grow

The flowers are generally bisexual, but can be functionally male.

Medicinal Uses

The leaves are cooked as a vegetable and eaten with meat or fish for their supposed beneficial action upon the liver and for treating enlarged spleens. Some saponins are present in the bark and roots. Hydrocyanic acid is abundant in the roots, and traces of it occur in the bark. The plant contains the cyanohydrin glycosides barterin (tetraphyllin B) and deidaclin.

Names & Synonyms

Deidamia clematoides HarmsGiorgiella congolana De Willd.Efulensia dematoides C. H. Wright

References (2)