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
948 Issues in this Publication (Showing issues 5000 - 5000) Previous | Next
Melia azedarach - Bead Tree
Edible Portion: Fruit (Poisonous), Gum, Leaves, Flowers, Vegetable
A moderate sized tree. It grows 6-16 m high. It can spread 3-12 m wide. The trunk is round and the branches spread out widely. The bark is greyish-brown. The bark has long shallow cracks along the length. The leaves are alternate. They are twice divided and bright green. The leaflets are sword shaped and have teeth along the edge. They are 7-8 cm long by 2 cm wide. The leaf base has unequal sides. The flowers are lilac and have a honey scent. The occur in long open clusters in the axils of leaves. These are about 18-20 cm long. The fruit is fleshy and round. It is about 1-1.5 cm across. It is smooth and yellow. There are 4 tiny seeds in a very hard shell.
Melicoccus bijugatus
Edible Portion: Fruit, Seeds, Kernel
A large evergreen tree. It grows up to 20 m tall. The trunk is smooth and pale grey. The inner bark is orange-brown. The crown is dense, round and compact. Trees are separately male and female. Where bisexual flowers occur these normally do not set fruit unless cross pollinated. The flowers are small and greenish. They are in crowded, long stemmed clusters. The fruit is medium sized with green skin and white or yellow pulp. They are 3 cm across. The skin is tough. There is one seed inside.Fruit hang in clusters near the end of branches and look like grapes. There are several named cultivated varieties.
Common names : Spanish lime, Mamoncillo, Genip, Genipe, Ginep, Ginip, Grosella de miel, Guayo, Guenepa, Guinep, Honey-berry, Kanappy, Kenep, Kinep, Knippa, Limoncillo, Mamon, Mamoncillo, Pitomba-das-guianas, Quenep,
Synonyms :
Melicocca bijuga L.;
Melicoccus bijuga L.;
Melicoccus carpopodea Juss.;
Schinus melicoccus L.;
Morus australis - Korean Mulberry
Edible Portion: Fruit, Flowers
A shrub. It grows 3-6 m high. It loses its leaves during the year. The bark is greyish brown. The winter buds are large. In cultivation plants are 1-2 m high. The leaves have stalks. The stalks are 1-1.5 cm long. The leaves are oval to sword shaped. They taper to the tip. They are 5-14 cm long by 3.5-12 cm wide. They have 3-5 lobes. There are teeth around the edge. Flowers are of one sex. They are yellow. The fruit are red but turn almost black near maturity. They are about 1 cm across. Some varieties are described which vary on the shape of the leaves.
Morus rubra - Red Mulberry
Edible Portion: Fruit, Leaves
A very small tree. It grows up to 9 m high. The trunk is 40 cm across. The trunk is short and soon divides into stout spreading branches. The crown is dense and rounded. It loses its leaves during the year. The leaves are alternate and simple. Leaves are oval but can vary in shape on the one tree. They are 8-24 cm long. It tapers to a long tip. The base is broad and heart shaped. There are 3 prominent veins and teeth around the edge. The upper surface is yellowish-green and rough. It is softly hairy underneath. Leaves turn yellow in autumn. The flowers are small and yellowish. The male and female flowers can be in mixed catkins but usually are in separate catkins either on the same tree or different trees. They are produced in the axils of the leaves. The fruit are small and fleshy. They are in compact groups in fruits like raspberries. These are 22-30 mm long. They are red or dark purple and sweet, juicy and edible.
Musa acuminata - Banana
Edible Portion: Fruit, Flowers, Flower stalk, Stem
The banana false stems usually have black marks on them. The canal of the leaf stalk is like an open drain. There are dry flaps where the leaf stalk joins the false stem. The leaves are paddle shaped. These are diploid bananas. They can be seeded or seedless. The flowers hang down. They are pear shaped and yellow, white or cream. The fruit are yellow. This is the small diploid variety. Many bananas are hybrids between acuminata and balbisiana. See Musa x paradisiaca.
Musa x paradisiaca - Banana
Edible Portion: Fruit, Flowers, Vegetable, Stalk, Corm, Root, Bud
These are the main group of cultivated bananas. They can be classed into diploid, triploid and tetraploid kinds with various amounts of the A or B parents. They grow 2-9 m high. They are large non woody herbs with broad long leaves. Most kinds have several suckers. Bananas grow a soft firm false stem from an underground corm. The fruiting stalk eventually emerges from the top of this false stem and normally curves over pointing towards the ground. Fruit occur in clumps or hands along this stem. The male flowers are in a red bud at the end of the flower stalk. The colour of the stem, bracts, bud and fruit varies considerably depending on the variety. The fruit can be 6-35 cm long depending on variety. They can also be 2.5-6 cm across.
Nephelium lappaceum - Rambutan
Edible Portion: Fruit, Seeds
A medium sized tree up to 12-25 m high. It keeps its leaves throughout the year. Trees spread to 6 m wide. The leaves are alternate with leaflets opposite along the stalk. There are 5-7 pairs of leaflets. Each leaflet can be 20 cm long by 8 cm wide. The leaflet stalks are short and the leaflets are pointed at the tip and rounded at the base. The flowers are very numerous on compound flower arrangements. Seedling trees can produce only female or only male trees. Some kinds have both male and female flowers or both flower parts in the one flower. The fruit are dark red with many prominent projections united at the base.The colour can vary between yellow, green, orange and bright red. Sometimes trees are separately male and female and sometimes seedless fruit is set. Often male and female flowers are separate but on the same tree. The fruit hang in loose clusters of 10-12 and are up to 5 cm long. Normally each fruit contains one large seed. There are several named cultivated varieties.
Acca sellowiana - Pineapple Guava
Edible Portion: Fruit, Flowers, Vegetable
A small spreading tree. It can grow to 3-5 m tall and spread to 5 m wide. The bark is pale grey. The branches are swollen at the nodes. The stems are thin, flexible and with white felted shoots. The leaves are 5-8 cm long with shiny bluish green on the upper surface and silver grey underneath. They are thick and leathery. The flowers are 2-3 cm across and purple and white. They are borne in one or two pairs at the base of the current years growth. The fruit is oblong and dull green with several small seeds inside. Fruit are 2-9 cm long. They can be round or pear shaped. The flesh is creamy white. The petals of the flowers are edible. The fruit is edible. There are usually 20-40 small seeds inside the fruit.
Acoelorrhaphe wrightii - Silver Saw Palmetto
Edible Portion: Fruit
An evergreen cluster palm tree. It grows 10 m high and spreads 4 m wide. The stems are erect and slender. They are covered with persistent sheaths and leaf stalks. The leaf stalks have thorns along the edge. The leaves are pale green and 90 cm long. The flowering shoots are among the leaves. The fruit are small and like berries. They are clustered on long stems.
Actinidia deliciosa - Chinese Gooseberry, Kiwifruit
Edible Portion: Fruit, Vegetable
A large woody vine. It loses its leaves during the year. The leaves are large and heart shaped. They are 20 cm long. Male and female flowers occur on separate plants. The flowers are cream and scented. The fruit are brown and fuzzy. They have green flesh and black seeds.
