Common Name:

General Information

Abutilon angulatum is an erect glaucous or yellowish or brownish shrub, usually growing 1 - 3 metres tall but occasionally taller[]. It usually produces only a few long side-branches in addition to the main stem but also produces many short side-branches mainly in the flowering portions[].
The plant is gathered from the wild for local use for food, making fibre and as medicine[, ]. It is sometimes grown as an ornamental[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - drier areas from Senegal to Somalia, south to Namibia and S. Africa.

Habitat

In the drier regions, often on alkaline or somewhat brackish soils in open situations such as pans, river banks, roadsides, low scrub and bush at elevations below 1000 metres[]. Often found as a weed of cultivated land[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Shrub
Height	1.50 m
Pollinators	Bees
Cultivation Status	Ornamental, Wild

Cultivation Details

Plants in this genus generally require a position in full sun or part day shade, and a fertile well-drained soil[].

Edible Uses

Young leaves and flowers - cooked[, ]. Used as a vegetable, they are cooked, edible oil or pounded groundnuts are added and then they are eaten with ugali or rice[].
Some people only use the flowers, which are dried and then put in a mixture with other dry vegetables[].

Medicinal

The leaf contains mucilage and is used to treat problems of the digestive tract[]. The cooked or raw leaves are eaten as a remedy for hiccups[].

The roots are boiled and the liquid drunk twice a day in the treatment of coughs and pneumonia. The liquid can also be used to ease labour pains[, ]. An infusion of the root forms part of preparations taken in the treatment of epilepsy and heartache[].
The powdered root is applied externally on to burns[].

The flowers are made into a lotion applied in case of skin problems[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The flowers are a good source of bee forage[, ].

Other Uses

A fibre obtained from the stem bark is used for making cloth, string and cordage[, ]. It is sometimes used for stitching mats together, or for weaving into cloth[]. The fibre is pale and lustrous, but short, not strong and more brittle than jute, although the tests may have been carried out on a poorly processed sample[].
To obtain the fibre, the branches are cut, stripped of leaves and left to soak in water overnight, after which the bark is stripped off and the inner bark separated from the outer bark. After the non-fibrous parts of the inner bark have been scraped off, the fibres are rolled between the palms or on the thigh and allowed to coil to form a rope[].


The large and soft leaves are sometimes used as toilet paper[].

The stems are used as tinder[].

Propagation

Seed -

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