Brachystelma arnottii — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Tubers, Root

Root - raw or cooked. The skin is bitter and is usually removed before the tuber is eaten. The tuber can be 50 - 60mm in diameter.

Where to Find It

It grows in areas with a marked dry season. It is a subtropical plant and grows in hot arid conditions. In southern Africa it grows between 900-1,600 m above sea level. It grows in sandy soils. It can grow in arid places.

Africa, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Southern 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 herb. It has underground stems or rhizomes. It grows 20 cm high. It is a succulent plant. The leaves vary in shape and are 4 cm long. They are hairy underneath. The edges fold upwards. The flowers occur as 2-6 together. The tubers are 5-6 cm across.

How to Grow

Requires a sunny position. Prefers a moist but well-drained soil.

Medicinal Uses

The tubers are used in traditional practices.

Notes

Also put in the family Asclepiadaceae.

Names & Synonyms

Brachystelma grossartii Dinter

References (3)

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1999). Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Published on the Internet; http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ceb/sepasal/internet [Accessed 28th March 2011]
Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 22
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