Cyathea manniana

Hook.

Spiny tree fern

Cyatheaceae Edible: Leaves, Fronds

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Description

A tree fern. It has sharp spines on the trunk. The trunk is slender and 10 cm across. It grows 7 m tall. The fronds are leathery. The fronds are 1-3 m long and 0.9-1.3 m wide.

Edible Uses

The young leaves and fronds are cooked and eaten as a leafy vegetable.

Traditional Uses

The young leaves are cooked and eaten as a leafy vegetable.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Medicinal Uses

An infusion of the pith and young leaves is used in traditional medicine for a variety of abdominal and gastric complaints, to ease childbirth and against tapeworms.

Distribution

It is a tropical plant. It grows in deep shade near mountain streams. It grows between 900-2,000 m above sea level.

Where It Grows

Africa, Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central African Republic, CAR, Congo DR, Congo R, Côte d'Ivoire, East Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinée, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome, Sierra Leone, Southern Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe,

Cultivation

A plant of the moister tropics, growing from moderately low to moderately high elevations.

Notes

The young leaves are used to treat the body for tapeworms.

Synonyms

Cyathea engleri Hieron. ex BrauseCyathea laurentiorum C. Chr.Cyathea manniana var. preussii TardieuCyathea preussii DielsCyathea sellae PirottaCyathea usambarensis Hieron. ex Brause

Also Known As

Agugu, Bishembegere, Guenon, Igishigishigi, Klogon, Ngung, Oyaele, Sheshino.

References (4)

Ferns, Useful Tropical Plants.
Maroyi, A., 2014, Not just minor wild edible forest products: consumption of pteridophytes in sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 10:78
Mangambu Mokoso Jean De Dieu, et al, 2015, Etudes ethnobotanique et ethnolinguistique des ressources forestieres ligneuses utilisees par la population du coulour Ecologique du Parc National de Kahuzi-biega (R. D. Congo). European Journal of Scientific Research May 2015.
Termote, C., et al, 2011, Eating from the wild: Turumbu, Mbole and Bali traditional knowledge of non-cultivated edible plants, District Tshopo, DRCongo, Gen Resourc Crop Evol. 58:585-618