Common Name:

General Information

Jateorhiza macrantha is a deciduous, climbing shrub producing strongly hairy stems up to 9 metres long from a tuberous rootstock[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine. It is sometimes retained for medicinal purposes when the forest is cleared for cocoa plantations[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Tropical Africa - Nigeria, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo, DR Congo, northern Angola.

Habitat

Dense and humid lowland, evergreen and semi-deciduous forests[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Deciduous Climber
Height	9.00 m
Self-fertile	No
Cultivation Status	Semi-cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw. A sweet flavour[]. The yellowish ochre to orange-red fruit is composed of up to 3 ovoid drupelets 2 - 3cm long and around 2cm wide, each containing a slimy, creamy-white pulp surrounding a single, large, hard seed.The fruit is covered with stiff, long, brown hairs[].

The succulent roots are eaten in times of famine[].

Medicinal

The leaf sap, mixed with other medicines, is applied to stop bleeding during pregnancy[]. The leaf sap is dropped into the ears, nose or eyes as a treatment against headache[].

The bark, combined with that of Kigelia africana, is used as a treatment against snakebites[].

Hairs from the stem are applied as a dressing on ulcers[].

The roots contain the diterpenes columbin, chasmanthin and palmarin, and the alkaloids columbamine, jatrorrhizine and palmatine[].

Other Uses

The leaves are tied to the cut end of the raffia palm in order to increase the flow of sap for palm wine[].

Girls tie the twining stem around their limbs when dancing[].

Propagation

Seed -

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