Skip to main content

Cyanella alba

L.f.

iNaturalist· cc-by-nc

(c) Richard Adcock, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Richard Adcock

iNaturalist· cc-by-nc

(c) Richard Adcock, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Richard Adcock

iNaturalist· cc-by

(c) Danie Palm, some rights reserved (CC BY)

Cyanella alba, the lady's hand or toe-toe-uintjie, is a perennial flowering plant and geophyte belonging to the genus Cyanella and is part of the fynbos. The plant is endemic to the Northern Cape and the Western Cape and occurs on the Bokkeveld escarpment. The plant flowers in August, September and October.

Description

A bulb or corm plant. It grows 8-20 cm tall. The corm is 15-25 mm across. There are 10-20 leaves at the base. They are narrow and 5-10 cm long by 0.5-3 mm wide. The flowers are very close together on a long stalk. The fruit is an erect capsule 13-15 mm long by 7-8 mm wide and it has 3 lobes.

Edible Uses

The corms are eaten as a snack and cooked as a vegetable.

Traditional Uses

The roots (corms) are eaten as a snack and cooked as a vegetable.

This uses section is brief — help expand it

Distribution

It is a subtropical plant.

Where It Grows

Africa, South Africa*, Southern Africa,

References (2)

  • Ruiters-Welcome, A. K., 2019, Food plants of southern Africa. Ph.D. thesis. Univ. of Johannesburg p 105
  • 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

More from Tecophilaeaceae