Food from Plants
Raphia sese – a very special Raphia palm
Raphia sese (Arecaceae) Common names: Nsaku (Kongo = knife with a long blade), ba di magangu (Kongo). Description A palm which grows in dense clumps up to 10 m tall. Female flowers are produced at the base and male flowers…
Pitpit – Edible grasses in Papua New Guinea
Three types of pitpit grow in Papua New Guinea: Coastal pitpit The pitpit plant looks like sugarcane to which it is related. Normally the stalk is thinner than sugarcane. It can grow up to 3 metres high and produces suckers…
Some varieties of edible wild mushrooms in DR Congo
Bubwaka bwaka is found on oil palm trunks and other trees in dense shade. These mushrooms can be pink or white. Bufwa ngudi growing on the end of a dead oil palm trunk in shade. Bulongo (Lentinus squarrosulus) appears between…
Wild Karuka and another pandanus fruit species
The Pandanaceae botanical family comprises following six species in Papua New Guinea: ‘Karuka’ and ‘Marita’ were already discussed at this website in two former articles. ‘Karuka’, see here, and ‘Marita’ see there. In the following, ‘Wild Karuka’ and Pandanus antaresensis…
Karuka – cultivated pandanus fruits and nuts
Tok Pisin: Karuka Scientific name: Pandanus jiulianettii Two species of pandanus are commonly used for the nuts that are eaten. They are Karuka (Pandanus jiulianettii Martelli) and wild Karuka (Pandanus brosimos Merr & Perry). At least 3 other species of…
Giant Taro – a plant with a giant root
English: Giant taro Scientific name: Alocasia macrorrhiza (L.) Schott Synonyms: Alocasia indica (Lour.) Spach Plant family: Araceae Description of Giant Taro plants A very large herb of the taro family. It has a stout erect trunk up to 4 m…
Swiss pine cones and their uses
The Swiss pine (Pinus cembra), goes by different names in German-speaking countries, such as ‘Zirbe,’ ‘Arve,’ ‘Arolla pine,’ or ‘Austrian stone pine.’ For generations, people have used the nuts of this particular pine species as food during the winter months,…
Use of Tsamma melons in Namibia
Tsamma melons are the original progenitors of watermelons. Historical records indicate that these melons were already under cultivation in the Nile valley as far back as 2000 BC. In contemporary times, Tsamma melons continue to be utilized for their oil…
Marita – a lesser known pandanus fruit
English names: Marita or ‘Red Fruit’ Tok pisin name: Marita Bahasa Indonesia name: Buah Merah Scientific name: Pandanus conoideus Lamarck The marita pandanus plant A short much branched screw pine with many prop roots. The prop roots have prickles. Trees…
Yam varieties in Papua New Guinea
Four species of yam are commonly grown and used for food in Papua New Guinea – but often naming in villages and naming by scientists does not agree. Many village people regard potato yam and 5-leaflet yam as varieties of…
Solomon’s Sago – another Sago palm species
How is this sago different? The Solomon’s sago palm that occurs in the North Solomon province and in the Solomon Islands is quite different from the sago that grows in other areas of Papua New Guinea. It has a different…
Sago – staple food in parts of Papua New Guinea
Sago palms Tok Pisin language: Saksak; Scientific name: Metroxylon sagu Rottb. There are 2 species in Papua New Guinea. The other one occurs in North Solomons Province and in the Solomon Islands. Its scientific name is Metroxylon salomonense. The sago…
Sweet ‘White Berry Bush’ fruits
Synonyms White Berry bush, Snowball bush (Eng.); Witbessiesbos (Afrikaans); Chinese waterberry (China), Goowal (Yawuru Australia); Flueggea virosa (Lat.) – Flügge was a German botanist, and virosa means poisonous or having a bad odor. Distribution Figure on the right: © National…
Sourplum fruits for food and oil
Sourplums, which belong to the Olacacea family, comprise two species: the Blue Sourplum (Ximenia americana) and the Great Sourplum (Ximenia caffra). Blue Sourplum The Blue Sourplum is naturally distributed in semi-tropical and tropical countries around the world, as shown on…
Using Honey Locust Pods as Food
The Honey locust tree, also known as Thorny locust, derives its genus name (Gleditsia) from a former director of the Botanical garden in Berlin. Its species name (G. triacanthos) means ‘Three thorns’, which refers to the typical arrangement of its…
Nara melons: Bread of the Namib desert
Nara melons were in former times the only food Topnaar people had available for 4 months (Jan – April) a year. The rest of the year they used conserved fruit pulp and seeds for supplementing other food sources. They were…
Milkplum (Stamvrug) fruits grow directly out of the tree trunk
Milkplum (Englerophytum magalismontanum (Sond.) T.D.Penn). Common names: (Afr) Stamvrug. (Eng) Milkplum, Wild plum. (isiZulu) Amanumbela. (Northern Sotho) Mohlatswa. (siSwati) UmNumbela. (Tshivenda) Munombelo. (Xitsonga) Nombhela. Old name: Bequaertiodendron magalismontanum Distribution Milkplum is widely distributed from Central Africa to Botswana and Eastern…
Monkey orange, an eagerly sought-after fruit
Monkey orange is the collective common name for the fruit of at least five different Strychnos tree species, which occur from Durban/South Africa up to Western Tigray in Ethiopia. These fruits are highly delicious, and all parts of the trees…
‘Bush potatoes’ from Cow pea plants in Namibia
Cow peas (Vigna vexillate subsp. lobatifolia) are strong climbers, which resemble Mung beans. The stem of this vine is up to 6 m long and develops trifoliate leaves. Its flowers resemble purplish pea-flowers, and the pods are abt. 7 –…
Manketti (or: Mongongo) nuts
Manketti nuts are staple food for a variety of people within its distribution range. And there is a strict division of naming them. Khoi-san people (Bushmen) are calling them ‘Manketti’, whereas Kavango people (Bantus) call them ‘Mongongo’. Both names denominate…
Wild Syringa (Burkea africana) edible tree resin
Many African trees extrude edible gums and resin. Notable Vachellia ssp. and Senegalia ssp. (old name: Acacias) are known for their edible gums. Ju/’hoansi people are collecting and eating whatever edible gums and resins they find on the go. In…
Bamboo shoot harvesting at the Red River
With more than 70 species of bamboo over the country, we can easily find bamboo thickets anywhere in Vietnam. Many of them could nurture one of the most popular and favored vegetarian foods for Vietnamese people, which like bamboo shoot…
Breadfruits (Artocarpus altilis) in Central Africa
Synonyms A. communis, A. incises; Common names Kikwa ki santu Petelo (Kongo), arbre à pain (Fr.), breadfruit Description A tree up to 35m tall producing a wide crown. All parts of the tree produce a white, bitter latex. Fruits are…
Bush Yams in Western- and Central Africa
Synonym: D. cayenensis var. praehensilis; Common names: Kisadi, sadi, bisadi (Kongo), igname de brousse (Fr.), bush yams, forest yam Description A sturdy climbing plant, up to 15 m long, growing from a large tuber which often protrudes from the ground….
Indochina Dragon Plums from Hanoi streets
The Indochina Dragon Plum (Dracontomelon duperreanum) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Anacardiaceae. In Vietnamese it is called: chi sấu). Dragon Plums are one of the most popular kind of trees on the side of Hanoi streets….
Traditional processing of cassava in Congo
Image sequence of cassava’s long way from root to market and shows the processing of cassava in its various steps Source This article is an excerpt of Paul Latham’s and Augustin Konda ku Mbuta’s books ‘Useful plants of Kongo Central…
Cassava, a staple food in Central Africa
Synony:m M. utilissima; Common names: Dyoko, Saka Saka (Kongo), Manioc (Fr.), Cassava roots Description A perennial shrub, up to 3 m high, with enlarged tuberous roots and a well-developed root system. There are many varieties, some of which are bitter…
African mammee apple in West- and Central Africa
Common names Mafambu, dimbu dingi (dingi = gum, resin, incense) (Kongo), bokodji (Lingala), African mammee apple, oboto or djimbo (commerce). Scientif name: Mammea africana. Description A large forest tree up to 45 m tall with a straight, cylindrical trunk and…
Okra plants in D.R. Congo
Okra plants (Abelmoschus esculentus): Synonym: Hibiscus esculentus Common names Dongo, lonto (Kongo), dongo dongo, molenda (Lingala), gombo (Fr.) Description An erect annual herb usually 1 – 2 m. high. Leaves are 3 to 5 lobed, spirally arranged and may be…
Marang fruits in Southeast-Asian Rainforests
There is a number of local names for the tree and fruits of Artocarpus odoratissimus. In English it is simply called ‘Marang’, which is based on the Philippines’ common name for the fruit. Originally endemic to the region around Mindanao,…
Cashew apples and -nuts in Goa, India
Cashew trees (Anacardium occidentale) are native to areas around Northeastern Brazil. Portuguese colonists brought them around 1560 to Goa, India, from where they spread to Southeast-Asia and finally Africa. Therefore, cashew products got already a long history in Goa and…
Jujube trees at Ayutthaya in Thailand
The Ayutthaya Historical Park covers the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, which was founded already in 850 AD by the Khmer and named after the Hindu holy city of Ajodhya. It was destroyed by Burmese in 1767 and…
Chanterelle mushrooms in Thailand
Thai chanterelles, or more specific Cantharellus minor live in symbiosis with Gurjun trees (Dipterocarpus tuberculatus) in semi-deciduous Southeast-Asian forests. These trees are easy to identify due to their double-winged (di-ptero) fruits with big seeds. Besides of Cantharellus minor, also other…
Trunk it – it’s Marula beer!
Marula season in Southern Africa is normally in February each year. When Marulas (Sclerocarya birrea) are getting ripe, they are turning from green to yellow and fall from the female Marula trees. On the ground they are ripening up fully…
Natal Mahogany seed milk and its preparation
Natal Mahogany (Trichilia emetica) trees have got a dense canopy of dark green, glossy leaves and a round outer shape of the tree silhouette. They preferably grow at moist places and riparian forests along drainage lines. Natal Mahogany is easy…
Buffalo thorn tree – an icon in Southern Africa
Buffalo thorn tree (Ziziphus mucronata) is called in Afrikaans “Blinkblaar-wag-‘n-bietjie” for its shiny leaves and two thorns, which are holding people back when getting caught by them. The shrub or tree has got distinctive zigzag branchlets with pairs of two…
Harvesting and opening Nipa Palm fruits
Nipa palms (Nypa fruticans) are a species of palms especially adapted to muddy environments of slow-moving tidal waters and mangrove forests and occur in Asia-Pacific tropical climates. And Nipa palm fruits are delicious to eat. Both, fruits, and wooden parts…
Morning glory – a valuable wild vegetable in Asia
Swamp morning glory or Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) has got a variety of common names, like ‘Kangkong’ in South-East Asia or ‘Kung Shin Tsai’ in China. It is staple vegetable food throughout Asia-Pacific. And it is very low in calories…
Heavenly Durian
The fruit Durian (Durio zibethinus) is named after the Malay word ‘Duri’ for ‘Thorn’, referring to the thorny skin and ‘zibethinus’ obviously refers to its smell. And the most sought-after variety in Malaysia is ‘Musang King’, where ‘Musang’ means ‘Palm…
Purslane (or: Spekboom) leaves as vegetable
Purslane, or spekboom (Portulacaria Afra) in Afrikaans language, is a succulent plant, endemic to South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. It got light-green soft leaves and red colored stems. The leaves can be eaten raw, as pickles, chutney, jam or used…