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 3000 - 3000) Previous | Next
Anacardium occidentale - Cashew
Edible Portion: Nuts, Leaves, Fruit pulp, Flavouring, Seeds, Oil
A spreading evergreen tree up to 7-14 m tall. It has spreading branches. The canopy can spread 12 m. The roots grow deeply and spread widely. The bark is rough. The trunk is 15-20 cm across. The leaves are alternate. The leaves are pale green and large. They are 10-15 cm long by 6-8 cm wide. They have fine veins. They are narrow at the base. The leaf stalk is 1-2 cm long. The leaves are shiny. The flowers are produced on the ends of the branches. They are red in colour. About 14 % of the lowers are both male and female and the remainder are male. Many of the flowers which contain female flower parts do not form fruit. The nut is borne below the "apple" which is really a fleshy stalk. The nut is kidney shaped. It is about 3 cm long.
Arachis hypogea - Peanut
Nuts/seeds/herbs
Edible parts - Seeds, Leaves, Flavouring, Spice, Pods, Vegetable, Oil, Caution
A spreading bushy plant up to about 40 cm high. Leaves are made up of 2 pairs of leaflets arranged opposite each other. Flowers are produced in the axils of leaves. Two main kinds occur. They are often called runner and bunch types. The runner kind has a vegetative or leafy branch between each fruiting branch and therefore produces a more spreading type of plant. This is called "Virginia" peanut. The pods have 2 dark brown seeds. The other kind produces fruiting branches in a sequence one after the other along the branches. These are called "Spanish-Valencia" types. They grow as a more upright plant and grow more quickly. They have lighter coloured leaves and the pods have 2 to 6 seeds which are often white. Virginia types have the flowers in alternate pairs. Spanish and Valencia types have several flower branches one after another along the stem. Pods are produced on long stalks which extend under the ground. The stalk or peg from the flower grows down into the soil and then produces the pod and seed under the ground. The flower needs to be no more than 18 cm from the soil for the seed pod to
Carthamus tinctorius - Safflower
Edible Portion: Seeds, Leaves, Seeds - Oil, Flowers, Spice, Vegetable
An erect annual herb. It grows to 60-150 cm high. It has any branches. It has spines but the number vary. The stems are white and stiff and round with fine grooves along their length. The kinds with more spiny leaves are better for oil production. The leaves are arranged in spirals around the stem. They do not have leaf stalks. The leaves are dark green and glossy. They are 10-15 cm long and 2-4 cm wide. The flower head is made up of many small flowers. They are 13 mm long and like tubes. They are yellow to orange in colour. The fruit is 4 angled and a hard hull and a single white or grey seed. The seed is oblong.
Coffea arabica - Arabian Coffee
Edible Portion: Seeds, Leaves, Herb, Spice, Leaves - tea
An evergreen shrub. It grows to 3-5 m high and spreads to 3 m across. The stem is slender and the branches are flexible. The leaves are glossy green, oblong, and tapering towards the tip. They occur opposite each other and have easy to see veins. The leaves are 10-15 cm long by 5 cm wide. The flowering stalks grow from these side branches and have 1-4 flowers. The flowers are white, with 5 petals. They have a scent. Flowers occur in clusters in the axils of leaves. The fruit are green but change to red when ripe. They contain 2 seeds. The seeds are grey-green. They are about 12 mm long. They are flattened on the side where they are pressed together. Coffee seeds are commonly called "beans".
Sesamum indicum - Sesame
Edible Portion: Seeds, Leaves, Spice, Seeds - Oil, Vegetable
A small upright plant. It is an annual plant. It is erect and much branched. It grows 1-2 m tall. The stem is stout and 4 sided. It is furrowed along its length. It is densely covered with glandular hairs. The leaves are fine and downy. They vary in shape. The lower leaves have long stalks and are spear shaped often with lobes or a toothed edge. The leaf stalks are 3-11 cm long. The leaf blade is 4-20 cm long by 2-10 cm wide. Upper leaves are narrow and oblong. They are 0.5-2.5 cm wide. The flowers are pink and white. They occur in the axils of upper leaves. They occur either on their own or in groups or 2 or 3. They can be white, pink, purplish and with yellow spots and stripes. The fruit can be smooth or rough and there are 2 chambers in the capsule. The fruit are brown or purple. They are oblong and deeply grooved. The seeds are small and oval. They are 3 mm by 1.5 mm and vary in colour from white, yellow, grey, red, brown or black. The fully ripe pods burst open.
Vigna radiata - Mung Bean
Edible Portion: Root, Seeds, Pods, Leaves, Vegetable
A herb. It is an upright hairy bean plant which can be 1 m tall. It has many branches. The leaves have 3 leaflets and are dark green. The leaves are on long leaf stalks. There are oval stipules at the base of the leaf. Flowers are pale yellow and small. They occur in bunches of 10-20 on the ends of long hairy flower stalks. Pods are black and straight. They do not have a beak. Pods contain 10-20 seeds which are usually green or golden yellow. They are smaller than black gram. The beans can be black. They have a flat white hilum. There are 2,000 varieties.
Cymbopogon nardus - Lemon Grass
Edible Portion: Leaves, Leaves - Tea
A grass. It is a perennial herb. It grows 0.8-1.5 m tall. It forms tufts. The leaves are 30-100 cm long by 1-2 cm wide. The
flowering shoot is 30 cm long and branched.
Myroxylon balsamum - Balsam of Tolu, Balsam Tree
Edible Portion: Bark - Flavouring, Sap - Flavouring
A tall tree. It can be evergreen or deciduous. It grows 35 m tall. It is stiffly erect. Large trees can have small buttresses. The leaves are mid green and have leaflets along the stalk. There are 3-13 leaflets. These are oval and 9 cm long. They are glossy. The flowers are small and white. They are in hairy racemes. They have a sweet scent. The fruit is a pod 7.5 cm long. It is tear drop shaped and winged. It has one seed.
Arachis glabrata - Perennial Peanut
Edible Portion: Flowers
A herb. It has a dense mat of rhizomes 3-5 mm across. There is a deep woody taproot. The stems can be erect or lie over. They are 5-35 cm long and 2-3 mm across. They can be hollow. The leaves have 4 leaflets. They are 4 cm long by 2 cm wide. The flowers are in the axils of the leaves and do not have stalks. They are tube shaped and 10 cm long. They are yellow to orange. The fruit are oval and 1 cm long by 5-6 mm wide.
Artemisia annua - Sweet Wormwood, Sweet Annie
Edible Portion: Leaves - Flavouring
A large annual herb. The stems are upright and often red. It can grow 1.6 m tall. The leaves are finely divided with leaflets along the stalk and teeth along the edge. The flowers are small and yellow and are in
