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
Sclerocarya birrea - Ethiopian Marvola Nut, Maroola Plum, Marula
Edible Portion: Kernels, Fruit, Nuts, Vegetable, Leaves, Seed, Seeds - oil
A shrub or tree. It grows 9 m high and spreads 6 m wide. It can be 15 m tall. It loses its leaves during the year. The crown is dense and rounded. The bark is grey and finely cracked. The leaves have leaflets along the stalk. The leaves are near the tips of the branches. The edges of the leaflets can be wavy. Plants are separately male and female. Female flowers are reddish and on long stalks at the ends of branches. The fruit are oval or round and 3-4 cm long. They are green but turn yellow as they ripen. The skin is tough and leathery. The pulp is juicy and white. There is one large stone. There are some subspecies.
Serenoa repens - Saw Palmetto, Silver Saw Palmetto
Edible Portion: Nuts, Cabbage, Fruit, Palm Heart
A fan palm with a short trunk. Sometimes it is creeping or underground. It forms clumps and is prickly. The trunks are slim and can be 3-6 m high. They are covered with fibres and leaf bases. The trunks can form branches, especially if the tip is damaged. The leaves are fan shaped. They are stiff and the leaf stalks are thorny. The leaves are 1 m long and the leaf stalks 1-1.6 m long. The leaves can be green, blue-green or blue-silver. The leaves are held stiffly erect. It produces flower stalks among the leaves. Flowers contain both sexes. The fruit are oval and 2 cm long. They are black when ripe. They are edible. Each fruit contains a single seed.
Spondias dulcis - Golden Apple
Edible Poriton: Fruit, Leaves, Vegetable
Often a Golden apple tree grows to a large tree which can be up to 30 m high but is more often 15 m high in cultivation. It has a trunk 60 cm across which can have buttresses. The bark on the trunk of the tree is fairly smooth. The twigs break off easily. The wood is soft and not much use. The leaf is made up of 4 to 12 pairs of leaflets which have fine teeth around the edge. The leaves are 20-30 cm long. The leaves are smooth and dark green on top and pale green underneath. The leaves are alternate. The leaves of the tree fall off for a part of the year. The old leaves wither to a bright yellow colour. The flowers are produced near the ends of the branches and mostly the flowers develop before the new young leaves grow. The flowers occur as several flowers on long stalks. The flower panicle is 15 to 30 cm long. The flowers are small and white. They look something like a mango flower. The fruit is yellow, oval and up to 7 cm long and 4 cm across. Sometimes the outside of the fruit has a mottled black colour. There is one large stone inside divided into 5 cells with a seed in each. The stone is branched and has fibres.
Spondias mombin - Mombin
Edible Portion: Fruit, Seeds, Leaves
A medium sized tree. It grows 20-30 m high. The trunk can be 0.5-2 m across. Branches start after 10-15 m. They are widespread and sparse. The leaves are compound. They have leaflets along the stalk. The leaflets are in pairs with a leaflet at the end. There are 5-9 pairs. The flowers occur on stalks near the ends of the branches. The fruit are small and yellow. They are 2.5-4 cm long. They have one large seed. The flesh is sub-acid.
Spondias purpurea - Purple Mombin
Edible Portion: Fruit, Leaves, Seeds, Nuts, Root
A medium sized tree. It grows 4-10 m high. It has an irregular trunk and broad crown. Often it is low and sprawling. It loses its leaves during the year. The leaves are made up of 5-12 pairs of leaflets. The leaflets are 2-4 cm long and they fall before flowering. The flowers are red and in groups 3-5 cm long. They are on the small branches. The fruit are small and red and subacid. They are round or oval and 2.5-5 cm long. They often grow in clusters of three. The fruit is edible. The fruit has a woody kernel which contains the seed. The flesh is creamy-yellow.
Swietenia macrophylla - Honduras Mahogany, Big-Leaf Mahogany
Edible Portion: Honey, Fruit
A tall tree. It grows 40-60 m high. Large trees have big buttresses. The bark is grey with cracks along it. The crown is large and round. The leaves are compound with an even number of leaflets along the stalk. The leaves are bunched towards the ends of the branches. The leaflets are unequal on each side. The flowers are small and white or green. They are in clusters above the leaves. The fruit are brown capsules. They are held erect above the leaves. The seeds are large and winged.
Syagrus romanzoffiana - Queen Palm
Edible Portion: Fruit, Palm Heart, Cabbage
A tall robust palm. It has a single stem and feather leaves. It has a wide spreading crown due to dark green arching fronds but their is no crownshaft. Often there are a number of dead fronds hanging from the trunk. The trunk is grey and grows to 20 m tall and 30-60 cm across. It is fairly straight. It has widely spaced leaf scars. The leaves are 3-5 m long. The leaf stalk is about 1 m long. There are many crowded leaflets often arranged in small groups and attached at different angles. The base of the leaf has a shredded edge around the trunk. The leaflets are 1 m long and 3 cm wide. They have a long pointed tip. The flowering stalk comes from among the leaf bases. The flowering stalk has many branches. It is 1-2 m long and many slender flower producing small branches. Several flowering stalks are often present at the same time. Two pointed woody bracts surround the flowering stalk. The flowers are yellow and male flowers 8-10 mm long while female flowers are 5 mm long. Both sexes occur on the one stalk. Fruit are crowded in long hanging masses. They are green but turn yellow when ripe. They are 2.5-3 cm long and 2-3 cm
Synsepalum dulcificum - Sweet Berry, Miracle Fruit
Edible Portion: Fruit
An evergreen bush. It grows to 6 m high in the humid tropics. The leaves are dark green and elongated. Forms with different leaf types are known. The leaves are alternate. The leaves are simple and entire and clustered near the tips of branches. The leaf blade can be 5-10 cm long by 1.5-4 cm wide. There are 8 pairs of side veins. The flowers are small (0.1 cm) and white. The fruit is a small bright red berry 2-3 cm long. It contains a single seed. The seed is large and the flesh is yellow. The fruit is edible but tasteless. It has an interesting side effect of making following foods taste sweet.
Syzygium cumini - Java Plum, Jambolan
Edible Portion: Fruit, Leaves
A medium sized evergreen tree. It grows 10-30 m tall. The stem is erect and branching. The leaves are opposite and smooth. They are shiny, leathery and somewhat oval shaped. The leaves are 4.5-16.5 cm long by 2-8 cm wide. The flowers are pink or nearly white and occur on compound flower arrangements below the leaves. The fruit is oval with dark purple flesh and is green but develops a nearly black skin when ripe. Fruit can be 2.5 cm long or more. The pulp is purplish-white and juicy. They are fleshy and have a large greenish seed. The fruit is edible.
Syzygium jambos - Rose Apple, Jambos
Edible Portion: Fruit, Flowers
An evergreen tree. It grows up to 7.5-15 m tall and with a spread of 4 m. It can be a small shrub. The stem is erect and 20-40 cm across. The branches hang downwards. The bark is greyish-green. The young twigs are either flattened of somewhat square in cross section. The leaves are simple, thick and shiny. The leaves are narrow and pointed (10-20 cm long and 3-4 cm wide). They taper towards both ends. Young leaves are brownish red coloured. The leaves have 16-18 pairs of side veins which join near the edge of the leaf. The leaf stalk is 1 cm long. The flowers are large (4-5 cm) and greenish-white and fluffy. They occur in clusters at the ends of branches. The fruit is rose scented and apple like. They are dull yellow and tinged pink. Fruit are 4 cm across. The fruit have a distinct crown at the end. They contain 1 or 2 large seeds. The seeds are pale brown. The fruit is edible.
