Glia decidua

B.-E. van Wyk

ApiaceaeRoots
Glia decidua
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) kooscl, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Glia decidua
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) kooscl, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

What to Eat

Edible parts: Roots

The tuberous roots are eaten as a snack.

Where to Find It

It is a subtropical plant.

Africa, 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 shrub. It grows 2 m tall. The leaves are in a ring around the base. It loses its leaves during summer. It has tuberous roots. These are 20 cm long by 8 cm wide. The flowers are yellow.

Medicinal Uses

The roots are used traditionally for food purposes.

References (2)
  • Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 19
  • 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

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