Secale africanum
Stapf
Wild rye
PoaceaeSeeds/Nuts
iNaturalist · cc-by-sa
(c) Brian du Preez, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Brian du Preez
(c) Brian du Preez, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), uploaded by Brian du Preez
wikimedia · cc-by-sa
Wikimedia Commons - SAplants
Wikimedia Commons - SAplants
What to Eat
Edible parts: Seeds, Cereal
The seeds are eaten as a cereal.
Where to Find It
It is a subtropical plant.
Africa, Madagascar, 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 grass in the family Poaceae native to subtropical regions. The seeds are used as a cereal crop.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Secale africanum, the African rye, is a species of flowering plant in the family Poaceae. It is native to the Cape Provinces. An annual or perennial tufted grass reaching 1 m (3 ft), it is found only in the Roggeveld (the ryefield) at elevations from 1,400 to 1,900 m (4,600 to 6,200 ft). Highly palatable to livestock, it has been assessed as Critically Endangered due to overgrazing.
Names & Synonyms
Secale montanum subsp. africanum (Stapf) Kobyl.
Secale strictum subsp. africanum (Stapf) K. Hammer
References (3)
- Kulturpflanze 35:142. 1987 (As Secale strictum subsp. africanum)
- Wiersema, J. H. & Leon, B., 2013, World Economic Plants. A Standard Reference CRC Press. 2nd Ed. p 624 (As Secale strictum subsp. africanum)
- World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
