Jatropha erythropoda
Pax & K. Hoffm.
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(c) Manuel R Popp, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Manuel R Popp
(c) Manuel R Popp, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Manuel R Popp
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(c) Christine Sydes, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) Christine Sydes, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) Christine Sydes, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
(c) Christine Sydes, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Tuber, Root
The tubers and roots are edible.
Where to Find It
It is a subtropical plant.
Africa, Botswana, 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 several stems and can be fleshy. It grows 30 cm tall. The tubers are 16 cm long by 3.5 cm wide. The leaves are compound and 2-8 cm long by 1-4 cm wide. The flowering shoot are 3 cm long. The fruit is 7-8 mm long by 10-12 mm wide.
Nutrition Score: 22/100
| Part | Moisture | kJ | kcal | Protein | Vit A | Vit C | Iron | Zinc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tubers | 86.7 | 183 | 44 | 1.1 | — | 7.6 | 0.4 | — |
Medicinal Uses
A decoction of the rhizome is drunk to treat blood in the urine and stomach-ache. The plant is rubbed on the skin to treat wounds and venereal diseases.
References (3)
- Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 54
- Wehmeyer, A. S, 1986, Edible Wild Plants of Southern Africa. Data on the Nutrient Contents of over 300 species
- 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
