Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets

Psidium longipetiolatum

Edible parts : Fruit,

A small tree. It grows 3-6 m tall. The leaves are 5-12 cm long by 3-6 cm wide. The fruit are 2-3 cm long. It is a tropical plant.

Common names : Araca-das-pedras, Araca-vermelho,

Conocarpus erectus

Edible portions : Vegetable ?, Medicine,

A shrub or tree. It is often 1-4 m tall but can grow 20 m tall. The trunk can be 1 m across. The bark is thick and has broad plates. The leaves are simple and arranged alternately. The leaves are narrowly oval. They are 2-7 cm long by 1-3 cm wide. The flowers are small and green. The fruit are clusters of small winged seeds. They are like buttons. The seeds float.

Distribution : It is a tropical plant. It grows along the coast. It is resistant to salt spray. It grows in mangroves. It can grow up to 700 m above sea level. It needs to be in a sunny position.

Common names : Buttonwood, Ariata, Buttonbush, Button mangrove, Button-tree, False mangrove, Florida buttonwood,

Synonyms : 

Conocarpus acutifolius Willd. ex Schult.;
Conocarpus procumbens L.;
Conocarpus sericeus J. R. Forst. ex G. Don;
Conocarpus sericeus (Griseb.) Jimenez;
Conocarpus supina Crantz;
Terminalia erecta (L.) Baill.;

Annona montana

Edible portion : Fruit

A small deciduous tree. It grows 5-8 m high. It can be 15 m high. It has a dense covering of leaves. The leaves are simple and oval. They are 25 cm long by 8 cm wide. The flowers are large and occur singly. They are yellow. They grow on the trunk and main branches. The fruit are large and green. They have a network appearance on the surface. The fruit is 25 cm long by 15 cm wide. It has oval seeds. They are 1.5 cm long.

Distribution : It is a tropical plant. It can stand temperatures several degrees below freezing. It is cultivated between 100-200 m altitude in southern China. In Colombia it grows between 60-120 m above sea level. In Brisbane Botanical Gardens. In XTBG Yunnan. It suits hardiness zones 10-11. It needs a fertile, well drained soil.

Common names : Mountain soursop, Anon de caiman, Anonilla, Arasyisyu, Araticum-acu, Araticum, Ata-brava, Biriba de monte, Boszuurzak, Calave, Corossolier batard, Duru, Guanabana cimarrona, Ibakwaha, Maron, Pohne, Sinini, Sirsak gunung, Teto, Teto chopishi, Turagua, Zee-zuurzak,

Synonyms : 

Annona marcgravii Martius;
Annona muricata Vell.Conc.;
Annona pisona C. Martius;
Annona sphaerocarpa Splitgerber;

Hyphaene thebaica

Edible portion : Cabbage, Fruit starch, Kernel, Leaves, Palm heart, Nuts, Root,

A tall branched palm. There are usually 4 crowns but occasionally 8 or 16. Each branch gives rise to a crown. Each crown has 8-20 fan shaped leaves. It grows 15-20 m tall. The stem is smooth but it has the scars of the old leaf bases. The leaves are broad (130-180 cm ) and with 20-40 long thin segments. The leaves are grey-green. The leaf stalk is 90-140 cm long and spiny with curved hooks along the edges. The male flower is 1.3 m long and the female flower is a similar length but is densely furry in the axils at the base of the fruit. The fruit is a dry fruit with a stone inside. They are about 7.5 x 5 cm and usually an irregular shape. The shiny outer layer encloses a middle layer which smells of gingerbread. This surrounds the hard stone which contains the seed kernel. The seeds are very hard and with a white kernel and a hollow centre. About 20-50 seeds weigh one kilogram. The mealy flesh of the fruit is edible.

Distribution : A tropical plant. It will grow in warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions. It will not tolerate frost. It grows in coastal regions. It can grow in arid places. It is found in the drier parts of West Africa. It grows in the Sahel. It is often on soil left by floods from rivers. It forms dense stands in hot dry valleys. They grow where the temperature is 20°C to 35° or 40°C. They grow up to 600 m altitude. They are common in areas with a rainfall between 150 and 600 mm per year. They can grow on salty soils. It can grow in arid places. They prefer a soil pH of 6.5-7.6. They are pollinated by wind. It suits hardiness zones 10-12. In Townsville palmetum.

Common names : Gingerbread palm, Doum palm, African Doum palm, Baar, Babazla, Bar, Bri-goruba, Dom, Doum, Dum palm, Gara'ito, Gellohi, Goriba, Goruba, Karjim, Kunchula, Manie, Meti, Mukpiatikakadata, Na, Poro, Qoone, Sete, Unga, Zimini

Synonyms :

Chamaeriphes crinita (Gaertn.) Kuntze;
Chamaeriphes thebaica (L.) Kuntze;
Corypha thebaica L.;
Cucifera thebaica (L.) Delile;
Douma thebaica (L.) Poir.;
Hyphaene baikieana Furtado;
Hyphaene crinita Gaertn.;
Hyphaene dahomeensis Becc.;
Hyphaene dankaliensis Becc.;
Hyphaene guineensis Schum. & Thonn.;
Hyphaene nodularia Becc.;

Solanum crinitum

Edible Portions : Fruit

A herb.

Common names : Boboro, Jurubeba,

Synonyms : 

Solanum cyananthum Dunal;
Solanum cyananthum var. jubatum (Roem. & Schult.) Dunal;
Solanum formosum Dunal;
Solanum jubatum Roem. & Schult.;

Coccoloba uvifera

Edible portions : fruit

A medium to large evergreen tree. It grows 6-15 m high and spreads to 3 m across. The stem is erect and woody and branching. The bark is pale and blotchy. The leaves are glossy green and almost round, but heart shaped at the base. They are rounded at the tip, and leathery. The leaves can be 10-27 cm long by 12-25 cm wide. Often male and female flowers are on separate trees. The flowers are white and have a scent. Flowers occur in clusters, with flowers on equal length flower stalks along a central stem. These are 15-30 cm long. The fruit hang in clusters. They are small and round and white or purple. They are grape like and edible. The flesh is juicy and thin. The seed is hard and nut-like.

Distribution : A tropical plant. It is native to tropical America. It can tolerate wind and salt. It has reasonable drought tolerance and can grow in damp soils. It prefers light, well-drained soils in an open sunny position. It is frost tender. Plants normally grow near beaches along sea shores. It adapts well to sandy soils. In Brisbane Botanical Gardens. It suits hardiness zones 10-12.

Common names : Sea grape, Carnero, Jamaican kino, Khrut thale, Kino, Matora, Meybiskadhuru gas, Nho bien, Papaturro, Platter leaf, Pohon anggur laut, Schusterdruif, Shore grape, Sistri-droifi, Uva caleta, Uva de playa, Uva de praia, Uvero,

Synonyms : Polygonum uvifera L.;

Dactyloctenium aegyptium - Comb Fringe Grass

Edible Portion: Seeds, Cereal, Rhizome, Root

An annual grass. The stems are slender. They can lie along the ground. These can form roots at the nodes. They can have runners and form mats. It is 15-60 cm high. The edges of the leaf sheaths have small hairs. The leaf blades are flat and 5-20 cm long by 0.2-0.6 cm wide. The surfaces are lumpy/hairy. It tapers to the tip. The flowers spread like fingers on a hand. There are 2-9 flower stalks. They are long and narrow. They often spread out horizontally. The spikes are on one side of the stalk. The tip is bare. The seed grains are about 1 mm across.

Hordeum vulgare - Barley

Edible Portion: Seeds, Cereal, Seeds - Tea

An erect annual grass. It grows 80-120 cm tall. The nodes are solid and the internodes are hollow. The leaves are narrow.  There are 5-10 leaves. They are produced alternately on opposite sides of the stem at the nodes. The leaves are narrowly sword shaped and 5-40 cm long by 0.5-1.5 cm wide. The flowers are greenish. Flowers have long awns. The fruit is a grain. It is oval and narrow. There are a range of named cultivated varieties.

Ipomoea batatas - Sweet Potato

Edible Portion: Tuber, Root, Leaves, Vegetable

This is a root crop which produces long creeping vines. The leaves are carried singly along the vine. Leaves can vary considerably from divided like fingers on a hand to being entire and rounded or heart shaped. At the end of the vine, trumpet shaped flowers grow. They are purple. Under the ground fattened tubers are produced. There are a large number of varieties which vary in leaf shape and colour, tuber shape, colour, texture and in several other ways.

Colocasia esculenta - Taro

Edible Portion: Corm, Leaves, Stalks, Vegetable, Root, Flowers

This plant has large flat leaves on the end of upright leaf stalks. It grows up to 1 m high. The leaf stalk or petiole joins the leaf towards the centre of the leaf. The leaves are 20-50 cm long. Near the ground a thickened rounded corm is produced. Around this plant their is normally a ring of small plants called suckers. Many different varieties occur. If left to maturity, a lily type flower is produced in the centre of the plant. It has a spathe 15-30 cm long which is rolled inwards. The flowers are yellow and fused along the stalk. There are many named cultivated varieties.

Taro comes in two basic forms. The Dasheen type Colocasia esculenta var. esculenta and Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum or the Eddoe type. The basic difference is the adaptation of the Eddoe type to storage and survival in seasonally dry places, while the dasheen type needs to be maintained in a more or less continuously growing vegetative stage. These are now recognised as separate species names.