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
554 Issues in this Publication (Showing issues 4000 - 4000) Previous | Next
Aloysia triphylla - Lemon Verbena
Edible Portion: Leaves, Herb, Flowers
A shrub to 1.5-3 m high. It spreads to 3 m across. It keeps growing from year to year. It loses its leaves during the year. The leaves are slender and green. They are 10 cm long. They smell strongly of lemon. Under the leaves there are oil glands which give a sticky, almost rough feel. The flowers are purple and white. They form in feather like groups are the ends of branches.
Benincasa hispida - Wax Gourd
Edible Portion: Fruit, Seeds, Leaves, Flowers, Vegetable
A climbing, pumpkin family plant. The vine can be 3 m long. The plant re-grows from seed each year. The vines are thick, furrowed and hairy. The leaves are heart shaped with 5 to 7 lobes. They are rough to touch. Flowers are yellow. The immature fruit can have skin of various colours depending on variety. The fruit is up to 30 cm long and 20 cm across and green with a waxy covering when mature. This waxy layer enables the fruit to be stored for a long time. Fruit shape and size can vary with variety. The flesh is firm and white. The fruit are heavy - up to 8-45 kg.
Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra - Chinese Broccoli
Edible Portion: Flowers, Leaves, Stems, Vegetable
A cabbage plant with a single fleshy stem. Although it keeps growing from year to year it is normally grown as an annual. It grows 45 cm high and spreads 40 cm across. The leaves are dark green and rounded on long stems. Plants start to flower when 10 leaves are present. Flowers are white but there are varieties with yellow flowers. There are several named cultivars.
Capsicum baccatum - Peruvian Pepper
Edible Portion: Leaves, Fruit, Spice, Vegetable
A spreading shrubby plant. It grows 3 m high and spreads 1.5-2 m wide. The leaves are sword shaped and 1.5-3 cm long by 2 -2.5 cm wide. The flowers are white or yellow and 1 cm across and in the axils of leaves. The fruit are small. The fruit is 8-10 mm long by 5 mm across. They are green or red. There are several named cultivated varieties.
Coccothrinax argentea - Silver Palm
Edible Portion: Leaves, Cabbage, Palm heart
A fan palm. The trunk is slender. It is 7 m high and 12 cm across. The upper part of the trunk is covered with woven fibres. The crown is sparse. It is 2 m wide and 2.6 m high. The leaf stalks are 60 cm long. The leaves are 1 m wide. The leaves are deeply divided. The segments are narrow and drooping. They are dark green and glossy on the upper surface and very silvery white underneath. The flowering stalk is 60 cm long. It is branched and born amongst the leaves. The flowers are white. The fruit are purplish-black. They are 1.2 cm wide.
Cucumis sativus - Cucumber
Edible Portion: Fruit, Leaves, Seeds, Vegetable, Seeds - Oil
A pumpkin family plant. It is a hairy annual climber with tendrils and yellow flowers. It grows to 0.5 m high and spreads to 2 m wide. The stem is trailing and has bristles. The leaves are heart shaped and the lobes taper. Leaf shape varies with different varieties. The tendrils are not branched. The flowers are yellow and funnel shaped. They occur in clusters in the axils of leaves. Male and female flowers are separate but on the same plant. Male flowers are normally in groups of 2-3 and develop first and female flowers are borne singly and open later. Fruit are long and often with a slightly lumpy skin. The flesh inside is greenish white. The fruit are edible. The fruit contain many seeds. Fruit 20-100 cm long are called cucumbers and fruit which are much smaller and darker green are called gherkins.
Cucurbita moschata - Pumpkin
Edible Portion: Fruit, Leaves, Seeds, Vegetable, Flowers
A pumpkin family plant. It is a creeping plant with long creeping stems and softly hairy but without prickly hairs. The stem are rounded or 5 angled and moderately hard. They can grow 15-20 m long. The leaves are large and shallowly lobed and divided like fingers on a hand. Occasionally the leaves have white blotches. They have rounded lobes. They are 20 cm by 30 cm. The leaf stalk is 12-30 cm long. The flowers have male and female flowers separately on the same plant. The fruit stalk is distinctly expanded there it joins the fruit. The fruit are not hard shelled and are dull in colour. The flesh is yellow. Often the flesh has fibres through it. The seeds are plump and white to brown. They separate easily from the pulp of the fruit. The edge of the seed is scalloped and irregular in outline. There are a large number of cultivated varieties.
Cynara scolymus - Globe Artichoke
Edible Portion: Leaves, Flowers, Vegetable, Stems
A thistle like perennial plant. It grows 1-2 m high and spreads to 1 m across. It forms a clump. It has deeply lobed leaves. The leaves are 80 cm long. They are greyish green above. They have a woolly, white surface underneath. They do not have spines. The flower is purple and surrounded by green bracts. It forms a large head. The flower head is about 8-15 cm across. There are several cultivated varieties.
Daucus carota subsp. sativus - Carrot
Edible Portion: Root, Leaves, Seeds - Flavouring, Vegetable
A root crop grown from seed. It normally grows a fattened root one year then forms a flower the next year. It can be 60 cm high and spread to 50 cm wide. The root is long in shape and orange in colour. The stem is erect, tough and furrowed. The leaves are feathery and divided 3 times. The leaves have a sheath clasping the stalk at the base. The flowers are white and lacy. They form a dense compound cluster at the top of the plant. Sometimes flowers are only produced into the second year of growth, depending on temperature.
Desmodium triflorum - Three-Flower Beggarweed
Edible Portion: Leaves, Leaves - Tea
A prostrate herb which forms mats. It can re-grow each year or continue growing from year to year. The plant can be 10-20 cm tall. The stems are 8-20 cm long. The stems are much branched and covered with yellow-brown hairs. The plant can form roots at the nodes of the stem. The leaves have 3 leaflets. These are oblong and 0.4-1.4 cm long by 0.4-1.2 cm wide. They can be hairy underneath. The leaf stalk is 0.4-1.1 cm long. There are normally 1-3 flowers in the axils of leaves. They are about 5 mm long. The petals are blue, purple or red. The fruit is a pod 1.2-1.8 cm long and with 2-5 segments. These are like a half circle in shape. One edge of the pod is indented.
