Common Name:

General Information

Adenia lobata is a large climbing shrub producing stems up to 45 metres long and up to 12cm in diameter. The stems attach themselves to other plants for support by means of tendrils[].
Widely used as a traditional medicine in west Africa, the plant is commonly gathered from the wild. It is also collected for food, fibres and to make sponges[].

Known Hazards

The sap of the stem is used as an arrow poison and to kill rats and street dogs[].
The stem, stem bark, fruit or sap are used for fish poisoning[].

Botanical References

Range

West tropical Africa - Senegal to Cameroon, south to Angola.

Habitat

Rainforest, secondary forest, forest edges, gallery forest, periodically inundated and marshy forest and on rocky outcrops, at elevations from sea-level up to 1,800 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Climber
Height	35.00 m
Growth Rate	Fast
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A fast-growing species[].
The plant can flower all year round, though ripe fruits are only present for a few months each year[].
The plant regenerates rapidly from the base after bush fires[].

Edible Uses

Leaves - cooked. Cut finely and eaten as a vegetable[, ].

The liquid from the stem can be drunk[].

Medicinal

Adenia lobata is widely used in traditional medicine in west Africa[].

The leaves are eaten with palm oil and salt to treat palpitations[]. A soup prepared from the leaves is used to treat fever in children[]. A macerate of leafy twigs in water is taken to treat cough, bronchitis and fever[]. The stem sap is taken to treat gastro-intestinal problems[]. A twig decoction is used to treat malaria[]. A twig decoction is used to treat malaria[].
Young, lightly roasted leaves are applied to the skin and then covered with leaves to treat abscesses[]. Leafy stems are dry-heated and applied to Guinea worm sores to extract the worms[]. A decoction of the leaves is used as a wash, especially for children, in the treatment of fevers[]. The leaves are locally applied to treat haemorrhoids[]. The sap of the leaves and stems is used to treat trypanosomiasis and is applied to insect bites[]. The stem sap is rubbed in to treat headaches and stiff necks, and is dropped in the ear to treat inflammations[].
The leaf sap is applied topically or as an enema as a strong purgative or for the treatment of rheumatic, rib and abdominal pains[]. Pulped twigs, administered as an enema, are used as a diuretic and to treat jaundice and fainting[]. A maceration of the crushed leaves in water is used as an enema to treat fever attacks[].
A leaf decoction is drunk to treat insanity and a twig extract is drunk or applied as an enema to treat gonorrhoea and abdominal pain[].

A root maceration or the stem sap is drunk in order to facilitate childbirth[].
The dried and powdered root, combined with powdered Capsicum annuum and seeds of Aframomum melegueta, is sniffed to treat nasal tumours[].

Bark scrapings are ground in water and massaged into the head to treat head lice, and root scrapings are applied to wounds[].

The stem and leaves contain cyanogenic glycosides[299.
Gynocardin, or a closely related substance, was detected in the plant[].
The dried leaves contain the flavonoids 2’’-xylosylvitexin, vitexin, violanthin, vicenin-2 and schaftoside[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The plant is a host of passion fruit ring spot virus (PFRSV), to which Passiflora edulis is very susceptible[].

Other Uses

A fibre is produced from the stem[].
The stems are used as rope[].

Sections of the stem are used as sponges[]..

Propagation

Seed -
Cuttings

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