Carissa Edulis

Scientific Name: Carissa Edulis

Common Name: Egyptian Carissa

Family: Apocynaceae

Names in other languages: Afrikaans (enkeldoring-noemnoem); Amharic (agam); Arabic (emir); English (simple-spined carissa,simple spined num-num,Arabian numnum); Luganda (muyonza); Swahili (mtanda-mboo); Tigrigna (agam)e this shrub is not often found here

• General Information 

Carissa edulis is a spiny, much branched, small tree, shrub or scrambler, up to 5 m in height, with a milky sap. Bark grey, smooth, young branchlets with or without hairs; spines simple, straight, 2-5 cm long, usually single.

Features of Bauhinia Tomentosa that make it identifiable:  

• The Stem is smooth and gree

• The Leaves  are ovate to ovate-elliptic, opposite, occasionally almost circular, leathery, dark green above, paler green below, with or without short, soft hairs;

• The flowers are white tinged with purple, red or pink, up to 1.8 cm long

• The fruit  are ovoid to almost spherical, up to 1.1 cm in diameter, red-black, ripening to purplish black, containing 2-4 flat seeds

Uses (non medicinal) 

• Fruits are sweet and pleasant to eat; in Ghana, they are normally added to the food of invalids as an appetizer. 

• Vinegar can be made from them by fermentation; in Sudan and Kenya, they are made into a jam. 

• The roots are put into water gourds to impart an agreeable taste and are added to soups and stews for the same reason.

• The species is a source of excellent firewood.

• In Kenya, a piece of the root is fixed into a hut roof as a snake repellent.

Medicinal Uses:  

• Roots contain an active ingredient, carissin, that may prove useful in the treatment of cancer.

• The twigs contain quebrachytol and cardioglycosides that are useful as an anthelmintic against tapeworm

• In Guinea, the boiled leaves are applied as a poultice to relieve toothache. 

• root scrapings are used for glandular inflammation; ground-up roots are used as a remedy for venereal diseases, to restore virility, to treat gastric ulcers, cause abortion, and as an expectorant

• An infusion of roots along with other medicinal plants is used for treating chest pains, and a root decoction is also used for treating malaria.