Common Name:

General Information

Cucumis prophetarum is a climbing or trailing plant producing annual stems up to 2.5 metres long from a perennial rootstock[].
The plant is sometimes gathered from the wild for local medicinal and food use. It is very occasionally cultivated and is also sold in local markets[, ].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Mauritania to Eritrea and Somalia, south to Tanzania and southern Congo.

Habitat

Semi-desert scrub; deciduous bushland and grassland; in tugs or on limestone slopes; dry Acacia bushland; open Acacia-Commiphora bushland and grassland; also in cultivated places from sea level to elevations of 2,010 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	2.00 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of low to moderate elevations in the drier areas of the tropics. It grows in Tanzania in areas where the mean annual rainfall is in the range 600 - 1,300mm[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw or cooked. Young fruits are sometimes eaten raw[]. The immature fruit can be pickled like a gherkin[]. The fully ripe fruit has a bitter flavour, but is sometimes boiled and eaten[, ]. Mature fruits can be cut into small slices, dried and then cooked as a vegetable after adding a paste of pounded groundnuts[].

Leaves[]. The tender leaves are cooked and served with a staple[]. They are also dried in the sun, pounded and used as a vegetable paste with pounded groundnuts[].

Medicinal

The bitter fruit is used as an emetic[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -

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