Edible: Fruit

Description: medium to large tree 20m tall

Native to: Subtropical Africa such as Northern KwaZulu-Natal to Mpumalanga and Limpopo Provinces, and in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. It is also found in Sudan and Ethiopia.

Use: Fruit is edible, sweet and, also used to make pleasantly flavored porridge.

Ecology: browsed by game, such as elephant, giraffe, kudu, bushbuck, impala and damara dik-dik. The fruits are eaten by baboons, vervet monkeys, and birds, especially louries, pigeons, starlings, barbets, and hornbills.

Growing: Easily propagated from seed  

Edible: Fruit & roots (avoid seeds)

Description: Evergreen tree 10m tall

Native to: Dry parts of southern Africa, in areas of low rainfall. The vast distribution range covers Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa (Limpopo, Gauteng, North-West, Swaziland, the Free State, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal). It also extends into Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

Use: The fruits are used in traditional dishes and the flower buds are used as caper substitutes in pickles.

Ecology: It is one of the most important animal forage trees in the Kalahari. The leaves are a nutritious source of food for antelopes year round, and the small, yellow or pinkish, edible berries are an essential part of the diet of baboons, all fruit-eating birds, and mammals. Humans also eat the sweet berries. Ecology: Host plant of the Brown-veined White butterfly (Belenois aurota)

Fodder: Livestock as well as other herbivores in savanna areas such as giraffes, gemsbok, and kudu browse the tree. The tree is often a food plant for the larvae of butterflies (the family Pteridae-whites).

Growing: Hardy, drought-resistant but frost-sensitive. It is easily propagated from shoots.

Edible: Fruit

Description: A hardy shrub or small tree up to ± 4 m high,

Native to: Southern Africa; the distribution includes Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia, Angola, and South Africa (Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, and North West).

Use: The berries are sweet and edible, but have little flesh. They are loved by the people of the Northern Cape. The fruits are collected and eaten for breakfast with milk or simply enjoyed as a snack. Traditionally porridge was prepared from the dried fruit after processing it into flour. The sweet vitamin C-enriched fruit can be enjoyed on its own as well.

Ecology: The leaves and fruits are enjoyed by domestic stock, as well as wild animals such as Kudu and Giraffe. It is the host plant of the white-cloaked skipper (Leucochitonea levubu) and spotted velvet skipper (Abantis tettensis) butterflies. Bushman raisins are an important food source for baboons, birds, and insects.

Edible: Fruit and seeds

Description: Tree growing 12-30m tall

Native to: Tropical Africa - Angola, southern DR Congo, Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe.

Use: The fruit pulp is easily removed from the seed by soaking for a few minutes in warm water. The arils are often cooked and used to make soup. Traditionally seeds are baked and then pounded - although they can be eaten at this stage, they are often mixed with water to form a paste and then cooked again.

Growing: Found growing on almost exclusively deep sandy soils.

Edible: Fruit

Description: Palm tree 18m tall (dioecious)

Native to: Africa - eastern DR Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, S. Africa. grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Use: The fruit can be eaten raw. A sweet, porous layer of flesh lies under the glossy shell. The fruit is a core of white endosperm known as vegetable ivory, initially soft and edible and containing some liquid comparable to coconut milk.

Growing: It prefers climates that are hot and dry. Established plants are very drought tolerant.

Edible: Fruit (High in vitamin C)

Description: Medium size tree, up to 18m tall (dioecious)

Native to: Senegal to Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. It grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome.

Use: The fully ripe fruits have a sweetly acid but pleasant taste.The marula fruit is perhaps the best known of our forgotten foods, due mainly to the popular liqueur Amarula. In some traditional communities, specific trees are owned by families and form an important part of each family’s heritage. The fruits are eaten fresh, while the juice is fermented to make a refreshing drink. If the juice is fermented for longer, it becomes a potent alcoholic beverage. In its fresh form, the juice can be used in a variety of savoury and sweet-food preparations, especially frozen desserts such as ice cream, sorbet, and parfaits.  The fruits cannot be stored for more than a week, they bruise easily and therefore are difficult to transport.

Ecology: The larval stage of the beautiful green African moth Argema mimosae feeds on marula leaves.

Growing: Easily propagated from cuttings. It prefers hot, dry, tropical savannah and forest areas, frost-free climate.

Edible: Fruit & nuts

Description: A large spreading tree 15-20m tall

Native to: Tropical Southern Africa specifically the Kalahari desert. Distribution reaches Angola and southern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana, and the Transvaal in northern South Africa.

Use: Both the flesh and nuts are edible, and the fruit keeps well during the winter months when other food is no longer available. “Mongongo” nuts are a staple diet for the San people of northern Botswana and Namibia. The pulp is eaten, and the nuts are saved to be roasted later. The oil from the nuts contains high levels of Vitamin E (tocopherol) and polyunsaturated fatty acids, making it highly beneficial for the skin. Once the fresh fruit is consumed, the stones are left to dry in the sun for later use. The stones are roasted before being cracked open to reveal the edible nuts inside. The nut can also be finely crushed and added to meat/vegetables to make a tasty soup or gravy.

Growing: Grows on Kalahari sand and sand dunes. The taproot grows until it reaches groundwater, which can be very deep in a landscape like the savannah. Self-fertile.

Edible: Fruit (Avoid seeds)

Description: small deciduous shrub or tree 2-8m tall

Native to: Subtropical Africa including South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, Angola, Tanzania, Mozambique to Kenya.

Use: Fruit is edible once ripe. Fruit can be eaten raw by sucking the sweet flesh from the pips or it is often used in maguni ice cream. The fruit is Bright-orange with a hard, thick skin and juicy, brownish flesh. It has an extremely complex flavor, suggesting an entire bowl of tropical fruit salad. 

Growing: Frost sensitive, resistant to drought. Grow in semi-arid and arid lands.

Edible: Fruit

Description: medium-sized tree, 3-10(-20) m high; with a spreading canopy.

Native to: Sub-Saharan Africa, extending from South Africa northwards to Ethiopia and Arabia.

Use: The berries are edible but not tasty and can be used in porridge or as a coffee substitute. During the Anglo-Boer war, the seeds were ground and used as a coffee substitute.

Ecology: The leaves and fruit are sought after by many birds, wild animals, and domestic stock. Giraffes are known to be especially fond of the leaves of this tree. Baboons, dik-dik and tree squirrels eat the fruit. Dik-dik, springbok, kudu and giraffe browse the leaves.

Growing: Easily grown from seed or cuttings.

Hedge: In the past, the buffalo thorn's (thorny) properties were put to good use building kraals (enclosures) to protect domestic livestock from predators.

Edible: Fruit & leaves

Description: Spreading groundcover, 60cm tall

Native to: Tropical Africa to Arabian Peninsula, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Batswana, Zambia, Angola, Comoros, and Madagascar.

Use: The leaves can be eaten as spinach and can be added to salads.

Ecology: It is also the host plant of many butterflies including the eyed pansy.

Growing: Drought-resistant. It prefers moist, well-drained soil and partial shade, although it can tolerate full sun in cooler climates. It is often used as a groundcover or in borders, and it can also be grown in containers. It is generally easy to care for and does not require a lot of maintenance. 

Youtube Video: Cooking asystasia

Edible: Fruit, mature leaves, seeds

Description: Climbing annual 3m long

Native to: Dryer tropics

Use: In southern Africa it has been cultivated since pre-colonial times with other crops such as sorghum. The tender young leaves and fruits can be cooked as green vegetables, while the fruit flesh may be cooked as porridge with maize meal. Seeds can be roasted or ground into a powder and used with cereal flours when making bread, cakes or added to thicken soups and stews.

Fodder: It is also a valuable stock feed, especially in times of drought.

Growing: Drought resistant

Edible: Leaves and shoots

Description: A climbing perennial herb or wildflower.

Native to: Sub-Saharan Africa.

Use: The leaves also have antioxidative properties. The leaves are often eaten in Sub-Saharan Africa, where they are eaten like spinach or dried for storage, then cooked with milk and butter to reduce its bitter taste. In Uganda and Tanzania, the leaves are cooked with groundnut paste. The leaves and shoots can also be boiled or in stews.

Ecology: The seeds are consumed by birds.

Edible: Root

Description: A perennial, succulent plant growing 1.5m long. (Dioecious)

Native to: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Use: Roots can be eaten raw when young, or cooked when older. It had whitish, watery flesh with a nutty flavor. The white flesh is soft, spongy, sweet, and watery, somewhat like a watermelon.

Growing: Can be grown from seed or cutting. It grows best in dry areas, in well-drained soil.

Edible: Fruit

Description: Annual climbing or trailing herb 3m long. It is one of many wild cucumber species found in the Kalahari Desert and other regions of Southern Africa. 

Native to: tropical Africa south of the Sahara down to Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, and Swaziland.

Use: When fully ripe, the fruit has yellow-orange skin and lime-green flesh but can be eaten at any stage of ripening. It tastes like a bland pineapple-banana- and is sometimes even sour. Most commonly, it is used as a replacement for domesticated varieties of cucumber. It has sharp horn-like spines, which should be removed before handling the fruit. It is one of the few sources of water during the dry season in the Kalahari Desert. It is a good source of nutrition and water. Also called the horned cucumber, jelly melon, or kiwando.

Ecology: Birds eat ripe fruit.

Edible: Grain/seeds

Description: Grass up to 4m tall

Native to: Tropical and subtropical Africa

Use: Sorghum grains is dried then stored or milled into flour and used in porridge (such as ‘Maltabella’), unleavened bread, cookies, cakes, couscous and malted beverages. Eating the whole grain will ensure the most nutrition; soak in water overnight and boil as rice. The grains contain 60 – 75% carbohydrates, 8 – 13% protein and 4 – 6 % fat.

Growing: Drought-resistant. In times of drought, it rolls its leaves to lessen water loss by transpiration. If drought continues, it goes into dormancy rather than dying. Its leaves are protected by a waxy cuticle. It uses C4 carbon fixation thus using only a third of the amount of water that C3 plants require. 

Edible: Bean & leaves 

Description: Annual herbaceous legume

Native to: Afrotropical realm including: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa (Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West), Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

Use: Cowpeas or black-eye peas are very high in protein (24%) & low in fat. Leaves are high in protein & eaten as spinach. Green immature pods are boiled as a vegetable. Beans are also dried & stored for later use.

Growing: Tolerates sandy soil & drought

Youtube: Harvesting black-eye pea leaves