Deinbollia borbonica

Scheff.

Soap berry

Sapindaceae Edible: Fruit 10 iNaturalist observations

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Description

A shrub or small tree. It grows between 1-7 m high. The trunk is not branched. The leaves are 30 cm long. There are 3-8 stalks of leaflets and the small leaflets are 4 mm long. The main leaflets are 5-14 cm long by 2-5 cm wide. They are narrowly oval. There are 14 pairs of side veins. The flowering cluster can be 45 cm long. The flowers are small and white and separately male and female along branched heads. The fruit occur in groups of 1-3. The fruit is 12 mm long and 10 mm wide. It is oval. There are seeds in the white flesh.

Edible Uses

Fruit - raw. The white, mucilaginous flesh has a sweet flavour. It is eaten as a snack, mainly by children and travellers. The yellow-red, oval to round fruit is about 10mm long, densely covered with golden brown hairs at first. Leaves - cooked and eaten as a vegetable.

Medicinal Uses

The roots are used for preparation of medicine to treat stomach-ache and boils.

Distribution

A tropical plant. It grows in open woodland on sandy soils. It grows in the lowlands. It is common in coastal areas of Kenya. In Tanzania it grows from sea level to 1,000 m above sea level.

Where It Grows

Africa, Comoros, East Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Reunion, Somalia, Southern Africa, Tanzania, Zambia,

Other Uses

The wood is used to make spoons. The wood is used for fuel and to make charcoal.

Other Information

The fruit are eaten especially by children.

Notes

There are 30-40 Deinbollia species.

Synonyms

Deinbollia borbonica f. glabrata Scheff.Radik.

Also Known As

Kajambalame, Lovoa, Mbotomwaka, Mdala-mwaka, Mkilimu, Mkunguma, Mlangola, Mmoyomoyo, Mpungamaoka, Mpwakapwaka, Mudala-mwaka, Mukakinya-kusia, Mukovate, Mupalamwaka, Mwakamwaka, Mwenda-kuzimu, Tlambi

References (14)

Dale, I. R. and Greenway, P. J., 1961, Kenya Trees and Shrubs. Nairobi. p 509
East African Herbarium records, 1981,
Flora Zambesiaca. http://apps.kew.org/efloras
Fowler, D. G., 2007, Zambian Plants: Their Vernacular Names and Uses. Kew. p 84
Grivetti, L. E., 1980, Agricultural development: present and potential role of edible wild plants. Part 2: Sub-Saharan Africa, Report to the Department of State Agency for International Development. p 47

Show all 14 references

Jardin, C., 1970, List of Foods Used In Africa, FAO Nutrition Information Document Series No 2.p 131
Msuya, T. S., et al, 2010, Availability, Preference and Consumption of Indigenous Foods in the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania, Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 49:3, 208-227
Mutie, F. M., et al, 2023, Important Medicinal and Food Taxa (Orders and Families) in Kenya, Based on Three Quantitative Approaches. Plants 2023, 12, 1145
Pakia, M., 2000, Plant Ecology and Ethnobotany of two sacred forests (Kayas) at the Kenya Coast. M. Sc. Thesis.
Peters, C. R., O'Brien, E. M., and Drummond, R.B., 1992, Edible Wild plants of Sub-saharan Africa. Kew. p 180
Ruffo, C. K., Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B., 2002, Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania. RELMA p 258
Schatz, G.E., 2001, Generic Tree Flora of Madagascar. Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden. p 364 (Genus)
Walsh, M., 2009, The Use of Wild and Cultivated Plants as famine Foods on Pemba Island, Zanzibar. Études océan Indien. 42-43
World Checklist of Useful Plant Species 2020. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew