Food Plants International - Plant Fact Sheets Strychnos innocua - Elephant Orange

Edible parts - Fruit, Seeds, Caution, Leaves

A small or medium sized tree. It grows up to 13 m high. The trunk is straight. The bark is smooth and green or yellow, and powdery. The small branches are stout and smooth and also powdery. They are often twisted and hang downwards. The leaves are simple and occur in opposite pairs. They are widely spaced apart. They have short leaf stalks. They are oval and 3 -15 cm long by 2-9 cm wide. The leaves are wedge shaped at the base and leathery. They tend to be wider at the rounded tip. They can have fine hairs underneath. The veins are fine and net like. The flowers are green or yellow and in the axils of leaves. They are 8 mm long. Mostly 2-4 flowers occur in stalked clusters. Fruit are round and 6-10 cm across. They have a hard peel. They are bluish-green when young and turn yellow or orange when ripe. There are many seeds imbedded in a yellow pulp. The seeds are 4 sided and yellow. They are 1.5 cm across and very hard. The ripe fruit pulp is edible.

It is a tropical and subtropical plant. It grows in the lowlands. It grows from sea level to 1,400 m altitude in Tanzania. It grows naturally in areas with a rainfall of 600 to 1,000 mm annually. The places have 60 to 100 rainy days per year. The temperature ranges are 17°C to 29°C. The relative humidity is from 45 to 80%. These areas have dry lowland forest. Trees need to be in sunny locations. It grows in open woodland and rocky hills. It can grow in arid places. It grows in Miombo woodland.