Some 3 billion people in the world live outside the cash economy in the world’s poorest nations. Food security and regular supply are their daily concerns. Chronic malnutrition is a leading cause of death and disease for them. Young children are amongst the most affected. One child every 5-10 seconds dies from undernutrition. Vitamin A deficiency causes night blindness for someone every minute. Most people in tropical and subtropical countries are iron deficient.
Our goal is to provide information that enables people to choose the right plant for their environment, to give them stable food production and a greater choice of plants to enrich their diets and improve their nutritional wellbeing.
The plant fact sheets listed in this collection are only a small portion of those available from FPI. Please check your plant inquiries in the ECHO Search and reference the FPI plant database for further information.
Most of the plants selected to list here are further described in country-specific publications by Food Plant Solutions (FPS in the Search).
8000 Starchy Staples
7000 Legumes
6000 Leafy Greens
5000 Fruits
4000 Vegetables
3000 Nuts, Seeds, Herbs, and other foods
794 Issues in this Publication (Showing issues 8000 - 7000) Previous | Next
Thamnocalamus spathiflorus - Spathe bamboo
Shoots
Edible parts - Seeds, a bamboo grass. It has a rhizome neck 6 cm long. The culms are 3-4 m tall and 1-2 cm wide. The internodes are 15-18 cm long. There are 3-6 branches.em, Cereal, Shoots
Yushania anceps - Anceps bamboo
Edible Portion: Shoots
A bamboo. It grows 3-4 m tall. It forms clumps 4-8 m wide. The canes are upright and shiny and dark green. They have drooping branches and narrow sword shaped leaves 15 cm long.
Canavalia ensiformis - Jack Bean
Legumes
Edible parts - Seeds, Leaves, Young pods, Spice, Flowers, Vegetable
A perennial climber, although short kinds do occur. Often it is a more bushy plant than the sword bean. Plants up to 1.5 m long. Stems can be hairy. Leaves have 3 leaflets. The leaflets are oval and 5.7-20 cm long by 3.2-11.5 cm wide. The leaf tends to be wedge shaped at the base. The leaf stalks are 2.5-11 cm long. Flowers are red/purple. They occur on flower clusters 5-12 cm long and with flower cluster stalks which are 10-34 cm long. The individual flower stalks are 2-5 mm long. Pods are long and sword shaped. Pods can be 15-35 cm long. Seeds are white with a light brown hilum half as long as the seed. Seeds are 2 cm long, by 1 cm across.
Cyamopsis tetragonolobus - Guar Bean
Edible Portion: Fruit, Leaves, Shoots, Pods, Seeds, Gum, Vegetable
A herb. It is an upright bushy plant often only 1 m high. Some kinds grow 3 m high. The branches are stiff and usually with white hairs. The branches stick upwards and are angled and with grooves. The leaves are produced alternately and have 3 leaflets. The leaflets are oval and with slight saw teeth around the edge. The leaf stalks have grooves. The flowers are small in clusters in the axils of leaves. The flowers are white with pink wings. It produces clusters of thick fleshy pods. They are stiff and straight. There is a double ridge along the top of the pod and a single one below. There are also 2 ridges along the flat sides. The pods have a beak at the end. There are 8-10 small oval seeds inside.
Glycine max - Soybean
Edible Portion: Seeds, Leaves, Spice, Vegetable
A small erect bean up to 60 cm tall. It grows each year from seed. Straggling kinds can occur. Stems, leaves and pods are softly hairy. The leaves have 3 leaflets. The leaflets have stalks. Flowers are small and white or blue. They occur in groups in the axils of leaves. The pods are broad, flat and hairy. Pods have 2-4 seeds. The seeds can be yellow to black.
Acacia farnesiana - Sweet Acacia
Edible Portion: Seeds, Gum, Leaves as Condiment, Spice, Vegetable, Pods
An evergreen shrub. It grows to 5-7 m tall and 3 m across. The stem is slender and erect. The crown is open. It is a spreading, densely branched shrub. The bark is smooth and brown. The leaves are branched and green. There are 4-6 pairs of larger leaves and 10-20 pairs of small leaflets. They have tiny leaflets and thorns up to 2 cm long, occur in pairs. The leaf stalk has a gland at or above the middle. The flowers are large orange balls. They are strongly perfumed. (The oil is used as a perfume in France.) The pods are long and dark brown to black. They are 5-8 cm long by 0.5-1 cm wide. They are inflated and sausage like. Often they are curved. They are marked with narrow lines. The pods have hard grey seeds imbedded in a pithy substance. The pods do not split open at maturity. The seeds are chestnut brown and 7-8 mm long by 5.5 mm wide.
Mucuna pruriens - Velvet Bean
EdiblePortion: Seeds, Young pods, Leaves, Vegetable
An evergreen herb of shrub. It is a climbing vine. It climbs to 6 m high. It can re-grow each year or live for a few years. The stems are slender with long, slender branches. They are very hairy when young. The leaves are alternate with sword shaped leaves. The leaf stalks are hairy. There are 3 leaflets. The leaflets are 5-19 cm long and 4-16 cm wide. The leaflets are rounded at the base and the side leaflets are unequal in shape. The flowers are large and white with bluish butterfly shaped petals. They occur in clusters of 2 or 3. The flowers are 2-4 cm long. The fruit are thick, leathery pods covered with hairs. They are 10 cm long and contain 4-6 seeds. The pods are dark brown.
Pisum sativum - Pea
Edible Portion: Seeds, Pods, Leaves, Vegetable
A short lived herb plant. A creeping plant with white or pink flowers. Plants can be 30 cm to 150 cm tall. It has a well developed tap root and many slender side roots. The stem is weak and round. Leaves are made up of 1-3 pairs of leaflets and a branched tendril at the end. There are large leaf like stipules at the base of the leaf. The lower half of these stipules has teeth. The flowers occur in the axils of leaves and are either on their own or in 2-3 flowered clusters with equal length stalks. The flowers are pink or purple in varieties grown for dry seeds and usually white in kinds grown for fresh pods. The pods are swollen and green and can have up to 10 seeds inside. Seed shape can vary. Large numbers of varieties have been recorded.
Lupinus mutabilis - Andean Lupin
Edible Portion: Seeds, Vegetable
An erect annual herb. It grows to 1.5 m tall. It has a thick taproot. It can keep growing from year to year. The stems are branched, woody and mostly without hairs. The leaves have leaflets arranged like fingers on a hand. There are 7-9 leaflets. These are oblong and about 6 cm long by 1.4 cm wide. They are hairy underneath. The flowers are large and have a smell. They are about 2 cm long. The standard is white and blue with a yellow mark in the centre. Many flowers (50-70%) fall off without forming pods. The fruit is a pod. It is finely hairy and does not split open before falling in cultivated varieties. The pods are oblong but pointed at both ends. There can be 130 pods on a plant. The seeds bulge towards the centre. They are 8-10 mm long and 6-8 mm wide. The colour can vary from black to light grey.
Cajanus cajan - Pigeon Pea
Edible Portion: Seeds, Leaves, Pods, Sprouts, Vegetable
An upright perennial shrubby legume. It lives for 3-4 years. They can be up to about 4 m tall and spreads to 1.5 m wide. The stem is erect and branching. It has a bushy appearance. It has a strong deep taproot. The root nodules are round and sometimes lobed. Young stems are angled and hairy. A leaf consists of 3 leaflets. Leaflets are narrow and green with a silvery green underneath. Leaflet size can be 10 cm x 3 cm. The end leaflet is larger with a longer leaf stalk. Flowers are red and yellow. The large petal has red lines. They are pea shaped and on branched flower stalks which stick upwards in the axils of leaves. Pods are long, straight and narrow, often with 4-8 seeds. The pods are slightly hairy. Pods are often 4-8 cm long and have a beak at the end. Pods are constricted between the seeds. Many varieties of pigeon pea occur. Some are dwarf and day length neutral. Seeds vary in shape, size and colour.
