Some 3 billion people in the world live outside the cash economy in the world’s poorest nations. Food security and regular supply are their daily concerns. Chronic malnutrition is a leading cause of death and disease for them. Young children are amongst the most affected. One child every 5-10 seconds dies from undernutrition. Vitamin A deficiency causes night blindness for someone every minute. Most people in tropical and subtropical countries are iron deficient.
Our goal is to provide information that enables people to choose the right plant for their environment, to give them stable food production and a greater choice of plants to enrich their diets and improve their nutritional wellbeing.
The plant fact sheets listed in this collection are only a small portion of those available from FPI. Please check your plant inquiries in the ECHO Search and reference the FPI plant database for further information.
Most of the plants selected to list here are further described in country-specific publications by Food Plant Solutions (FPS in the Search).
8000 Starchy Staples
7000 Legumes
6000 Leafy Greens
5000 Fruits
4000 Vegetables
3000 Nuts, Seeds, Herbs, and other foods
552 Issues in this Publication (Showing issues - 8000) Previous | Next
Cyperus papyrus - Papyrus sedge
Edible portion : Rhizome, Root, Culms, Stems, Shoots, Vegetable, Spice
A sedge. These grow in clumps and have grass like leaves and solid stalks. It is an erect herb which grows in tufts. It keeps growing from year to year. It grows 2.5 m tall. It has a short, thick, woody underground stem or rhizome. The stems are triangle shaped. The leaves are reduced to brown sheaths. There are 4-10 flowering bracts. These are 7-15 cm long. They are about 1 cm wide. The flower is compound with over 100 branches 10-25 cm long. Each has a sheath like bract 3-5 cm long near the base. There are also 3-5 bracts about 20 cm long at the tip. When the flowers are fertile there are 3-5 spikes with 20-30 spikelets. Each spikelet has 3-20 flowers. These are 1 cm long by 1 mm wide. The nut is 3 sided and brown.
Distribution : It needs tropical conditions. It grows in marshy habitats and lakes. It will grow in slow flowing water. It will grow in water up to 1 m deep. It can grow in arid places. It suits hardiness zones 9-12.
Guazuma ulmifolia
Edible portions : Fruit, Bark - drink, Flowers, Seeds, Gum
A tall tree. It loses its leaves during the year. The bark is grey-brown and rough and cracked. The tree grows 12-20 m high. The crown is irregular and the branches droop. The leaves are 6-20 cm long and are unequal at the base. Leaves are hairy and have irregular teeth. The flowers occur in clusters. They are about 5 mm wide and yellow. They have 5 petals and a woolly appearance. There are thread like appendages at the top of the flowers. The fruit is a capsule which is round and green but turns black when ripe. The fruit is edible. There are several oval seeds in a sweet, edible, mucilage layer.
It is a tropical plant. It is native to tropical America. It will grow on poor soils. It grows from sea level to 1,200 m in the tropics. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall below 1,200 mm. It can grow in arid places. Madras.
Pseudosamanea guachapele
A tall tree. The bark is a light colour and deeply cracked into long plates. The leaves are twice divided. The secondary leaflets get larger along the stalk. The flowers are white in round heads. It is a tropical plant. It grows in re-growth forest
Annona macroprophyllata
Edible portion : Fruit
A small deciduous tree. It grows to 7-8 m tall. It has 2 kinds of leaf. One is the broadly oval smooth leaf with a leaf stalk. The others are like round bracts without a leaf stalk and these fall off. These grow at the base of the small branches. Under the leaves, fruit and branches has a powdery appearance. The flowers are maroon coloured and 2-3 cm across. There are 3 outer petals. These are 2-5 cm long. There are 3 small inner petals. The fruit are large and pink or white. They are 12 cm long. They have a thin skin. Fruit vary in colour and texture. A tropical plant. It suits the tropical lowlands. It grows between sea level and 1800 m altitude in Central America. It does best on fertile volcanic soils. A rainfall of 1,000-1,400 is suitable. It suits hardiness zones 10-12. In Brisbane Botanical Gardens.
Ilex cassine - Dahoon Holly
Edible Portion: Leaves, Leaves - Tea
A tree. It grows 8 m tall. It has small sword shaped leaves. They are leathery and have shallow teeth. The leaves are 8-10 cm long. They have soft prickles along the edges. Male and female flowers are on separate plants. The flowers are small and greenish white. They are held in small, hairy clusters near the ends of branches. The fruit are red berries.
A tropical plant. It grows in coastal swamps and moist, coastal forests. It can tolerate occasional flooding with fresh or brackish water. It suits hardiness zones 6-11. Melbourne Botanical Gardens.
Pachira glabra - Saba Nut
Edible Portion: Seeds, Nuts, Vegetable, Leaves
A small tree. It grows 17 m high. The trunk is bright green. The leaves have 5-7 leaflets. The leaves have long leaf stalks. The flowers come out at night. They have light green strap-like petals. The stamen are white and curved. The fruit is a green capsule 12.5 cm long. It contains many large seed. It is like a cocoa pod. There are 10-24 seeds.
A tropical plant. It is native to Central America. It grows on alluvial plains and lowland rainforests. It suits humid locations. In Townsville BG.
Theobroma bicolor - Peruvian cacao
Edible Portion : Fruit,Pulp,Seeds
A small evergreen tree. It grows 10-13 m high. It can be 30 m high in the forest. The leaves are papery and 15-35 cm long. They can have 2 colours. The flowers are in small groups on the thin branches. The fruit can weigh 300 g. The fruit is medium to large. It is 8-12 cm across. The fruit is cone shaped. The inside of the fruit is chocolate coloured.
Distribution
It is a tropical plant. It suits the hot, wet tropical lowlands. It usually grows as an understorey plant in the rainforests in Central and South America. In Central America it grows from sea level to 1,000 m altitude.
AKA Bacao, Cacao blanco, Cacao do Peru, Cacau-rana, Chis po yo, Culuju, Himoro amohi, Killa, Macambo, Macavu, Maraca, Maraco, Mocambo, Odaba, Odoba, Patashte, Pataste, Tiger cocoa, Wakamp,
Synonyms:
Cacao bicolor (Bonpl.) Poir.;
Theobroma cordata Ruiz & Pav.;
Theobroma ovatifolia Moc., Sesse & DC.;
Tribroma bicolor (Bonpl.) O. F. Cook;
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.
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.
