Aspalathus crenata
(L.) R. Dahlgren
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(c) Corrie du Toit, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Corrie du Toit
(c) Corrie du Toit, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Corrie du Toit
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(c) magriet b, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by magriet b
(c) magriet b, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by magriet b
iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) Carina Lochner, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Carina Lochner
(c) Carina Lochner, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Carina Lochner
What to Eat
Edible parts: Leaves - tea, Stems - tea, Flavouring
The leaves and stems are used for tea drinks and as a flavoring.
Where to Find It
It is a subtropical plant. It grows between 200-830 m above sea level in South Africa.
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 can lie along the ground. It grows 20 cm to 1.5 m tall. The leaves are 12-28 mm long by 4-18 mm wide. They are stiff and bright green. They can have a sharp tip at the end. The pod is sword shaped and 22-32 mm long by 5-6.5 mm wide. They are grey or brown when ripe.
Names & Synonyms
Borbonia crenata L.Borbonia parviflora Lam.
References (3)
- Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 55
- 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
