Culcasia falcifolia
Engl.
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc
(c) Bart Wursten, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Bart Wursten
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc-sa
(c) Marco Schmidt, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA)
iNaturalist· cc-by-nc
(c) beto_tenente, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Description
A vine. It climbs up tree trunks by attaching with its roots. It can grow 20 m tall. It can lie along the forest floor. The leaves are narrowly oval or sword shaped. The flowers are on short separate branches. They have a leathery boat shaped spathe around them. The fruit are red berries in dense heads. They are on stalks 8 cm long.
Edible Uses
The roots and corms are edible.
Distribution
It is a tropical plant. It grows in mid altitude and lower montane rainforest. It suits humid locations. It grows in the shade.
Where It Grows
Africa, East Africa, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Southern Africa, Sudan, Zimbabwe,
Notes
There are about 20 Culcasia species.
Synonyms
References (3)
- Glover, 1967,
- Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 12
- White, F., Dowsett-Lemaire, F. and Chapman, J. D., 2001, Evergreen Forest Flora of Malawi. Kew. p 93
