Cissampelos hirta

Klotzsch

Menispermaceae Edible: Leaves, Fruit 12 iNaturalist observations

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Description

A herb that grows attached to other plants. It can be a climber. The branches have lines along them. The leaves are simple and deeply heart shaped. There is a short tip. There are 5-7 veins from the base spread out like fingers on a hand. Male and female flowers are separate. The flowers are small and 1 mm long and green. The fruit is flattened and fleshy and sometimes has some hairs.

Edible Uses

The leaves are eaten as a green vegetable, while the ripe fruits are eaten as a dessert fruit.

Traditional Uses

The leaves are eaten as a green vegetable. The ripe fruit are eaten as a dessert fruit.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Distribution

It is a subtropical plant. It can grow in arid places.

Where It Grows

Africa, East Africa, Eswatini, Mozambique, South Africa, Southern Africa, Swaziland,

Notes

There are about 20 Cissampelos species.

Synonyms

Cissampelos pareira L. var. klotzschii Dur. & SchinzCissampelos tamnifolia Miers

References (6)

Fox, F. W. & Young, M. E. N., 1982, Food from the Veld. Delta Books. p 265
Long, C., 2005, Swaziland's Flora - siSwati names and Uses http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora/
Plowes, N. J. & Taylor, F. W., 1997, The Processing of Indigenous Fruits and other Wildfoods of Southern Africa. in Smartt, L. & Haq. (Eds) Domestication, Production and Utilization of New Crops. ICUC p 188
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1999). Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Published on the Internet; http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/ceb/sepasal/internet [Accessed 3rd May 2011]
Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 78

Show all 6 references

Welcome, A. K. & Van Wyk, B.-E., 2019, An inventory and analysis of the food plants of southern Africa. South African Journal of Botany 122 (2019) 136–179