Common Name:

General Information

Coccinia adoensis is a climbing or trailing perennial plant producing annual stems up to 3 metres long arising from a swollen perennial rootstock[]. The roots also form subspherical root-tubers distinct from the stem-base[]. The plant scrambles over the ground or into plants, supporting itself by means of tendrils[].
The plant is sometimes gathered from the wild for local use as a food and medicine.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Nigeria to Eritrea and Ethiopia, southwards through eastern Africa to Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique and S. Africa.

Habitat

Deciduous woodland, bushland and thicket, wooded grassland often with Acacia and grassland; at elevations of 100 - 2,300 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Perennial Climber
Height	3.00 m
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of semi-arid areas in the tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 2,300 metres[].
Often found in deep shade in the wild[].
A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

Root - cooked[]. A potato-like taste, it can be roasted, the skin removed, and the root then pounded and mixed with leafy vegetables etc[]. It is usually only eaten when better foods are unavailable[]. They need to be well cooked, otherwise they are slightly toxic[].

Leaves - boiled and eaten as a vegetable[]. They are sometimes mixed with other green vegetables (such as Bidens pilosa or pumpkin leaves), plus tomatoes and groundnuts[].

Fruits - cooked[, ]. There are contradictory reports on the quality of the fruits, some saying that they are sweet whilst others say that they are not edible[]. The tomato-red, ovoid-ellipsoid or long-ovoid-ellipsoid fruit is 36 - 81mm long, 14 - 30mm wide[].

Medicinal

A root-decoction, combined with leaf-sap, is used as a mouth-wash for treating tooth-abscesses[].

The leaves are crushed, mixed with water, and drunk as a cure for puff-adder bites[].

The unripe fruits contain cucurbitacin B and traces of cucurbitacin D. Cucurbitacins, which are known from many plants in the Cucumber family, as well as various other plant species, exhibit cytotoxicity (including antitumor activity), and anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -

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