Raphionacme burkei

N. E. Br.

ApocynaceaeRootsScore: 24/100

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Tuber, Root, Caution

The tubers are eaten raw after being scraped and squeezed, and serve as a source of drinking water.

Where to Find It

It is a subtropical plant. It grows in the Kalahari.

Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, 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

A herb. It has a thick round tuber. It is 15 cm across. The stems arise from this tuber during the growing season. The stems have milky latex. The flowers are green and hairy. They occur in clusters among the leaves. The fruit are long thin capsules. Probably now Raphionacme velutina

Nutrition Score: 24/100

Part	Moisture	kJ	kcal	Protein	Vit A	Vit C	Iron	Zinc
Tuber	89.7	145	35	1.1	—	10.4	0.8	0.2

Production

The round storage root can weigh 2.5 kg.

Notes

It is also put in the family Periplocaceae.

Names & Synonyms

Bie a, Ella

References (8)

Fox, F. W. & Young, M. E. N., 1982, Food from the Veld. Delta Books. p 291
Maguire, 1978,
Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 66
Silberbauer, 1965,
Story, 1958,
Tanaka, 1980,
van Wyk, Be., & Gericke, N., 2007, People's plants. A Guide to Useful Plants of Southern Africa. Briza. p 94
Wehmeyer, A. S, 1986, Edible Wild Plants of Southern Africa. Data on the Nutrient Contents of over 300 species