Strychnos spinosa
Lam.
Kaffir orange, Natal orange
(c) Linda Loffler, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Linda Loffler
(c) Ricky Taylor, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Ricky Taylor
(c) Rémi Cardinael, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Rémi Cardinael
What to Eat
Edible parts: Fruit, Leaves, Vegetable
The flesh of fully ripe fruit is eaten fresh (does not keep well) or can be sun-dried and stored. It is cooked in some places, added to maize meal porridge, fermented into a drink, or made into jam and jellies. Young leaves are occasionally eaten as a vegetable.
Known Hazards
Where to Find It
A tropical plant. It grows in the drier areas of tropical Africa. It grows in the Sahel. It is in open woodland and secondary forest. It grows in areas with more than 500 mm rainfall per year. It will grow on slopes and ridges and is a tough tree. It grows up to 1,500 m altitude. In West Africa it grows up to 2,200 m altitude. It can grow in arid places. It grows in Miombo woodland in Africa. It suits hardiness zones 10-12.
Africa*, Angola, Australia, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, East Africa, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinée, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, North America, Sahel, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Africa, South America, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, USA, West Africa, West Indies, Zambia, Zimbabwe,
How to Identify
A shrub which loses some of its leaves during the year. It can be spiny. It grows 4-5 m tall and can be 9 m tall. It has a large rounded crown. There can be one or several trunks. The branches can be flexible or stiff and smooth or hairy. The branches have spines in pairs which are 7 mm long and have a black tip. They are slightly curved backwards. The bark is grey brown and scaly. On old branches the bark becomes corky. The leaves are oval and up to 10 cm long. They are shiny green and hairy. They are produced opposite each other. They tend to be hairy and have 3-5 veins which start near the base of the leaf. The leaf base is wedge shaped. The flowers are small and pale green. They occur in groups at the ends of branches. The fruit is round and 5-17 cm across. It is green and becomes light brown at maturity. Sometimes the fruit is prickly. The fruit have a hard shell. The flesh of the ripe fruit is edible. The seeds are flat and poisonous. Fruit from trees with short fruit stalks are sweet while fruit from trees with long fruit stalks and narrow leaves are bitter.
Nutrition Score: 36/100
| Part | Moisture | kJ | kcal | Protein | Vit A | Vit C | Iron | Zinc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fruit | 78.8 | 305 | 73 | 2.7 | — | 10.6 | 0.8 | 0.1 |
| Fruit | 79.7 | 301 | 72 | 1.6 | — | — | 0.7 | — |
How to Grow
It can be grown from seeds or basal shoots. It can also be grown from root cuttings. The seed has a hard seed coat so should be treated either by putting in hot water or by burning. It can be grown by grafting.
Propagation: Seeds are soaked in hot water or the hard coat is burned to facilitate germination. Root suckers. The roots are pruned to encourage suckering. Cuttings of half-ripe wood.
Medicinal Uses
The plant, taken alone or in conjunction with extracts of other plants, is used by the Tiv people of Nigeria for snakebites, venereal disease, increasing the flow of breastmilk in lactating mothers, and enhancing physical strength.
Other Uses
A mixture of the ground up roots and oil is applied to the skin as a fly repellent. Sound boxes for musical instruments known as 'mbira' are sometimes made from the shells of dried fruit. The fruits are also carved and sold as curios. The yellowish-white wood is straight-grained, hard and planes well. It is used in furniture making and general carpentry. Timber from this tree is also used to produce implement handles, fighting sticks and hut poles, and is used for carving. The wood provides firewood and charcoal.
Wikipedia
Source ↗Strychnos spinosa, the Natal orange, also called Mokotra in Madagascar, is a tree indigenous to tropical and subtropical Africa. It produces sweet-sour yellow fruits, containing numerous hard brown seeds. Greenish-white flowers grow in dense heads at the ends of branches (Sep-Feb/Spring - summer). The fruits tend to appear only after good rains. It is related to the deadly Strychnos nux-vomica, which contains strychnine. The fruit are large, smooth, and firm, transitioning from green to yellow as they ripen. Inside the fruit are tightly packed seeds, which may be toxic, surrounded by a fleshy, brown, edible covering. Animals such as baboon, monkeys, bushpig, nyala and eland eat the fruit. The leaves are a popular food source for browsers such as duiker, kudu, impala, steenbok, nyala and elephant.
Production
From flowering to fruit maturity takes 11-13 months. Fruit can be seen on the tree throughout the year. Because fruit are strongly attached to the tree they need to be cut off with a knife. They are often dropped onto the ground to break them open. A fruit can weigh 700 g.
Other Information
It is a commonly used fruit in West Africa. The leaves are only occasionally eaten. Fruit tend to be available in the drier more hungry season. It is cultivated.
Notes
The fruit shell is ued for sound boxes for musical instruments. The plant is used in medicine.
Names & Synonyms
African orange, Akankoa, Atako, Bepale, Bupale, Chiwo, Curanam, Dzai, Elephant orange, Fara-colei, Faracoledje, Furudau, Gogo, Green monkey orange, Groenklapper, Huduruk, Ihlala, Kapula, Katrin-poaga, Katogulu, Khoikoi, Kikumba, Kimee, Kuranam, Kyae, Lidonga, Limbua, M'tondulo, Maciela, Mae, Mahongo, Malopali, Massala, Matamba, Maume, Mdongadonga, Merenza, Metonha, Mkilugundu, Mkonga, Mmwaya, Mogororo, Monkey ball, Monkey orange, Morogoro, Morundu, Moshala, Msala, Msongoli, Mtangadasi, Mteme, Mtonga, Mtongatonga, Muboborimu, Mudzaje, Muhonga, Muhuluhulu, Muramba, Musongola, Mutamba, Muwungo, Muzhumi, N'congon, Narbatanahi, Ntupa, Nune, Omuuni, Orelha-de-rato, Pempeeya, Quera, Rocopale, Sala, Sansa, Santogou, Sarcoledje, Spiny monkey orange, Tekurluki, Tengolengo, Tibo, Tonga, Umhlali, Umkibatshame, Umkimbarshami, Umkomatane, Umkwakwa, Umngono, Umsala
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