Cyphostemma ternatum
(Forssk.) Descoings
(c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Morten Ross
(c) Jean-François Olivier, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
What to Eat
Edible parts: Leaves
The leaves are edible, with a slimy and peppery character.
Where to Find It
It is a Mediterranean climate plant.
Middle East, Oman,
How to Identify
A climbing herb. It grows 2 m long. The stems are succulent and round in cross section. The leaves are alternate and simple. They have 3 leaflets. The leaves are 25 cm long and 30 cm wide. The leaflets are broadly oval. They are 5-20 cm long by 3-16 cm across. The flowers are greenish yellow.
Medicinal Uses
Cyphostemma ternatum is edible and the leaves were traditionally boiled into a green mush in Southern Arabia. It has a peppery and acrid taste. The fruit of the C. ternatum is also edible once they have ripened, but only when the pip has been removed, as the pip is quite hot. The root is edible and can be eaten raw, but is apparently improved by cooking. In traditional herbal medicine, this plant was used to treat cases of footrot in Arabia. A poultice of juice of the cooked leaves with salt was applied to the affected part.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Cyphostemma ternatum is a perennial climbing herb that grows up to 2m. It is edible and distributed throughout Northeast Africa to South Arabia. ternatum in Latin means "arranged in threes" and alludes to the arrangement of the leaves.
References (1)
- Miller, A. G., Morris, M. & Stuart-Smith, S., 1988, Plants of Dhofar. The Southern Region of Oman, Traditional, Economic and Medicinal Uses. Sultanate of Oman. p 284
