Indigofera alternans
DC.
FabaceaeRoots
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) Gigi Laidler, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Gigi Laidler
(c) Gigi Laidler, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Gigi Laidler
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) Gigi Laidler, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Gigi Laidler
(c) Gigi Laidler, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Gigi Laidler
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) Richard Gill, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) Richard Gill, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Roots
The roots are eaten raw and fresh.
Where to Find It
It is a subtropical plant. It grows in hot arid places. It grows between 155-1,600 m above sea level. It can grow in arid places.
Africa, Angola, 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
An annual herb. It can lie along the ground. It has underground stems or rhizomes. It can be 2 m long. The leaves are compound with leaflets along the stalk with a leaflet at the end. The flowers are small and red. They are 4-5 mm long. The fruit is a small narrow pod. It is slightly curved and has 6-8 seeds. It has stiff hairs.
Names & Synonyms
Makotla, Oshimbadanga
Indigofera effusa E. MeyIndigofera enneaphylla Eckl. & Zeyh.
References (5)
- Fox, F. W. & Young, M. E. N., 1982, Food from the Veld. Delta Books. p 211
- 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 29th April 2011]
- Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 58
- van Wyk, Ben-Erik, 2019, The diversity and multiple uses of southern African legumes. Australian Systematic Botany, 2019, 32, 519–546
- 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
