Raphionacme hirsuta

(E. Mey.) R. A. Dyer

ApocynaceaeFruitRootsScore: 26/100Potential hazards — see below

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Tuber, Root, Fruit, Caution

The underground tuber is mixed with sugar and brewed to make beer, and the fruit are eaten as a snack.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

It is a subtropical plant. In Swaziland it grows only in the highveld.

Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, South Africa, Southern Africa, Swaziland,

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 forms a large, flattened round tuber. Several short forked shoots develop from this. These are less than 15 cm long. They have a few pairs of leaves that have short stalks. The leaf blades are 5 cm long by 2 cm wide. The midrib is easy to see. The flowers are low down on the branches. They are purple and slightly hairy.

Nutrition Score: 26/100

Part	Moisture	kJ	kcal	Protein	Vit A	Vit C	Iron	Zinc
Tubers	85	203	49	1	—	10.4	0.8	0.2

How to Grow

A plant of the subtropics, just entering into the tropics in southern Africa. Requires a very free-draining soil with plenty of moisture in the growing season and a distinct dry season when it is dormant.

Medicinal Uses

The tuber is traditionally brewed into a beverage preparation.

Names & Synonyms

Ghali, Indzema, Khadiwortel

Brachystelma hirsutum E. Mey.Raphionacme divaricata Harv,and others

References (11)

Facciola, S., 1998, Cornucopia 2: a Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, p 168
Fox, F. W. & Young, M. E. N., 1982, Food from the Veld. Delta Books. p 292
Lee, 1979,
Long, C., 2005, Swaziland's Flora - siSwati names and Uses http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora/
Ogle & Grivetti, 1985,
Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 66
Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 27
Swaziland's Flora Database http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora
van Wyk, Be., & Gericke, N., 2007, People's plants. A Guide to Useful Plants of Southern Africa. Briza. p 110
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