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
624 Issues in this Publication (Showing issues 5000 - 5000) Previous | Next
Prunus avium - Sweet Cherry, Bird Cherry, Wild Cherry
Edible Portion: Fruit, Seeds, Leaves - flavouring, Sap
A medium sized tree. It grows to 10-20 m high. It is spreading and loses its leaves during the year. The bark is silver grey and peels in circular strips. The leaves are alternate. The leaves are bronze when they open, turn dark green then change to crimson in autumn. The leaves are oval and double toothed. The upper surface is dull dark green. They are hairy underneath where the veins join. The leaf stalk is red and grooved. The flowers are pink and white. They occur in small clusters. The fruit are small and red-black when ripe. They are 25 mm across. They are sweet and juicy. There are at least 1,000 different forms of sweet cherry.
Psidium friedrichsthalianum - Costa Rica Guava
Edible Portion: Fruit
A small tree. It grows 3-4 m tall. The branches are angular and hairy. They are reddish. The leaves are papery and 4-10 cm long. There are 8 pairs of secondary veins. The flowers occur singly. They are white and have a scent. The fruit are a medium size and yellow with soft acid pulp. They are like a guava. They have many seeds. The fruit are 6-7 cm across.
Psidium guineense - Brazilian Guava
Edible Portion: Fruit
A small shrub or tree. It grows 1-8 m high. The trunk is 2-10 cm across. It has an appearance like a strawberry guava tree. The leaves are opposite and simple. They are 8-10 cm long by 4-6 cm wide. The flowering stalks have 1-3 flowers. The flower stalk is 1-1.5 cm long and large and hairy. The fruit are round or pear shaped but like common guava. They occur singly on new growth. They are 2-3 cm wide. The skin is yellow. The pulp is white and acidic. There are several seeds.
Punica granatum - Pomegranate
Fruit, Vegetable
Edible parts - Fruit, Seeds, Spice, Vegetable, Flowers
A shrub. It grows up to 2-6 m tall. It has short thorns. It can grow up to 10 m tall. Usually trees lose their leaves at one season during the year. The trunk is covered by reddish-brown bark. Trees often sucker near the base. The leaves are opposite, entire and 8 cm x 1.5 cm. Leaves narrow towards the base. It has large scarlet flowers. These are at the ends of branches. 1-3 flowers occur together. The fruit is round, leathery skinned and up to 10 cm across. It is yellow brown in colour. Inside there are angular hard seeds in a juicy yellow pulp. The seeds are 10 mm long. There are many named varieties.
Roystonea regia - Cuban Royal Palm, Florida Royal Palm
Edible Portion: Cabbage, Fruit, Palm Heart, Vegetable
An single stemmed, evergreen palm. It grows to 30 m high and spreads 5-10 m wide. The stem is erect and smooth. It is white. It is stout and unbranched. The trunk is usually thickened near the base and in the middle before thinning towards the top. The trunk can be 0.5-0.6 m across. It has ring like markings. The leaves are divided along the stalk. The leaves are 6 m long and the leaflets are long and narrow. They are arranged in several ranks. The base sheaths the trunk below the crown. The flowers are small and white and cup-shaped. They are clustered in spikes which hang downwards. These stalks can be 1 m long. These come from just below the crown shaft. The flowers occur in 3-4 clusters with 2 boat shaped spathes. The male cluster is longer than the female. The fruit are round berries which are deep purple in colour.
Sabal palmetto - Caribbean Cabbage Palm
Edible Portion: Fruit, Leaves, Cabbage, Sap, Palm Heart
A fan palm. The trunk is 15-20 m tall and 35 cm across. The leaves form a round crown. The leaf stalk extends into the leaf blade. The leaf stalk is 1-1.5 m long. The leaves are blue-green. The leaf segments are joined for about 1/3 of their length. The tip is strongly notched. The flowering stalk is about as long as the leaves. It is branched. The flowers are white to cream. The fruit are small and round and black when ripe. They are 8-14 mm across. They are edible.
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.
