Edible plants
If you are uncertain of the identification of a plant it should not be used as many species listed here have similar toxic counterparts. You may be allergic to certain plants so be careful and never eat too much of any one final plant.

Babiana hypogea
Baboon Onion
Preparation—the tubers are scraped clean and eaten raw or boiled as vegetables.

Bidens pilosa
Black jack
Preparation—young leaves and shoots are lightly boiled and when soft, peanut butter (if available) is melted into the remaining liquid to add taste. The leaves are then returned to the pot, stirred well. Add a little salt or potash. They are served as a relish. The leaves can also be dried.

Larissa bispinos a
Num num, or Y-Thorn
Preparation—the leaves and shoots are cooked as a spinach. When picked they have an unpleasant smell which disappears with boiling. Add a little salt or potash just before serving. The soft, shiny product is easily digestible, but does not mix well with groundnuts. It is used as a relish for children and invalids, The whole plant soaked in water can be used as a shampoo and a soap substitute,

Dicerocarywn eriocarpum
Boot Protector
Preparation—the leaves are edible, cooked as spinach.

Euelea Crispa
Blue Guarri
Preparation—the fruits are pleasantly sweet and are eaten or chewed fresh.

Lablab purpureus uncinatus
Lablab Bean
Preparation—the hard beans take up to eight hours to boil, but should be soaked first. The young beans are cooked in their skin, older ones with the skin removed. Occasionally they are boiled twice and then a third time with maize. Another method is to roast the beans, pound and grind them finely, winnow to remove skin particles and boil the pea flour. Young leaves can be cooked as a relish. They must be boiled for a long time to destroy the poisonous lectins.

Lantana caninra
Common Lantana
Preparation—the fruits are edible.

Lantana rugosa
Bird's Brandy
Fruits are edible and a light purple in colour.

Lannea edulis
Wild Grape
Preparation—the fruit is eaten raw, by squeezing out the pulp and discarding the bitter skin; the mature fruit has a grape-like flavour. The young roots are also edible but must be cooked first. The darker fruits are tastier.

Oxalis obliquifolia
Sorrel
Preparation—all parts of the plant are salty and are chewed to relieve thirst. In small quantities, well washed and drained, the leaves are used as potherbs and garnishes. Too much should not be eaten due to the salts present.

Tricliceras longipedunculata
Lion's Eye
Preparation—the young leaves are cooked as spinach. The stems are discarded and the leaves pounded a little to soften them before cooking with a little salt or potash added.

Zornia milneana
Zornia
Preparation—the leaves are commonly used as a cooked spinach but are somewhat dry in texture. They require potash for softening and peanut butter, onions and tomatoes (if available) to improve the flavour.

Fadogia tetrequerta
Tick Bush
Preparation—fruit is edible directly from plant.

Lippia javanica
Fever Tea
Preparation—the leaves are infused or brewed to make an aromatic herbal tea. The flavour is similar to mint or vanilla.

Myrotheninus flabellifolius
Resurrection Bush
Preparation—the leaves are infused in boiling water to make an aromatic herbal tea.

Opuntia Ficus—Indica
Prickly Pear
Preparation—the spines are removed by rolling the fruit in the sand before peeling. The sweet flesh is eaten whole, including the seeds. It is particularly delicious when eaten very cold. The pears may be sliced and sun-dried for use out of season. Prickly Pear syrup is made by mincing the peeled fruit and boiling until as thick as honey. No sweetening is required.

Nymphae caerulea
Water Lily
Preparation—the tuber is scraped clean of fibre, well washed, boiled and roasted as a vegetable, but this is 'famine food' as it is spongy and rather tasteless. The flattened head of the flower, with the bracts renewed, is also edible. The seeds, well pounded to meal, can be cooked as porridge.
Trees with food value

Grewia flava
Brandy Bush
Preparation—fruits are eaten fresh or sun-dried and ground to a powder, to be mixed with dried locusts as a delicacy.

Grewia inonticola
Silver Raisin
Preparation—the berries are eaten, stones and all. They are rather dry but sweet when chewed. They can also be sun-dried and ground into a meal for making porridge. Fried in 'rich oil' they are said to have been a favourite Bushman dish, When fermented they make a potent beer. .

Acacia karoo
Sweet Thorn
Preparation—the tree oozes a clear red-gold gum, used for chewing. The seeds are a coffee substitute, roasted and ground time.

Spine leafed Monkey Orange
Preparation—ripe yellow-brown fruits are thrown onto the ground to crack their hard shells. It is customary to eat the fruit on the spot, using a piece of shell as a spoon, rather than unwashed Fingers. The pulp is fairly tasty, but not as good as the Corky Bark Monkey )range. The seeds are refreshing to suck, kept in the mouth for time but not swallowed as they are potentially poisonous. The sweet ripe pulp tiny be scraped from the seeds and sun-dried as a food reserve. Sometimes the pulp is mixed into maize porridge. The unripe fruit is poisonous.

Strychnos cocculoides
Corky Bark Monkey Orange
Preparation—the fruit can be picked green and buried in sand and left until the pulp has completely liquefied, forming a local delicacy. The fruit straight front the tree is very good to eat.

Englemphyturn rnagalismontanum
Milk Plum
Preparation—the fruits are sweet-tasting and are sought after, but are rather spoiled by the sticky white latex. The fruit pulp, cut from the stone. makes a good jam or, jelly. The pulp can be fermented and used as an alcoholic drink (mampoer.). It was at one time also widely used on farms to make vinegar.

Boscia albitrunea
Shepherd's Tree
Preparation—the fruit is pounded to remove the seed and the sweet pulp is mixed with milk as a side dish. The roots are dried, ground to a meal, sieved and mixed with other cereals. The young roots are roasted and ground fine as a coffee substitute. Roots, with the bark having been scraped off, are boiled slowly For several hours to make sweet tasting syrup. Young roots, scraped and sun-dried, can he ground to make a thin gruel by boiling with water, The flower buds may he pickled in vinegar and used as capers.

Diospyros lyciodes
Blue Bush
Preparation—the ripe red fruit is eaten fresh, the soft pulp having the taste of guavas. It can be used fir making a fermented drink or dried as a preserve.

Ficus sur
Broom-Cluster Fig
Preparation—the figs are eaten fresh or sun-dried, being turned frequently and flattened by hand to make a sweet preserve. They are usually riddled with small wasps and need careful cleaning. Small new leaves are gathered in early spring and boiled with salt or potash as a spinach.

Ficus harkei
Common Wild Fig
Preparation—the figs are eaten fresh or sun-dried, being turned frequently. They can be flattened by hand to make a sweet preserve. They are usually riddled with small wasps and need careful cleaning. Small new leaves are gathered in early spring and boiled with salt or potash as a spinach.

Lannea discolor
Live-Long Tree
Preparation—the fruits are eaten fresh, the grape-like pulp being squeezed out of the bitter hard skin, which is then discarded.

Mimusops zeyheri
Red-Milkwood or Moepel
Preparation—the fruit is edible, eaten fresh. It is sticky unless really ripe, when it has a mealie-meal consistency, and is pleasantly sweet. Unripe fruit is more bitter and dry.

Pappea capensis
Jacket Plum
Preparation—the fruits are pleasant-tasting eaten fresh or made into a refreshing drink or vinegar. They are also fermented to make wine. The seed produces a rich golden-yellow, non-drying oil which can be used for cooking, although it is slightly purgative.

Sclerocarya birrea
Marula
Preparation—the ripe fruit falls to the ground and is collected by the basketful. It can be eaten fresh or dried, but it is astringent cateit raw. It can lie used to make a traditional drink and a tasty jelly, or the pulp can he mixed with a cereal or maize porridge.
Marula juice- the ripe fruit is left to soak in cold water, or pimnded to remove the stone. The pulp is put into a dosed pot, the mixture being half pulp and half water. It is left to ferment over night, ready for drinking the next day.

Syzigium cordatum
Waterberry
Preparation—the fruits are sweet and plentiful. They are enjoyed fresh and are made into a fruit drink, being stamped or broken open and left to stand in water for sonic hours. The drink becomes alcoholic if the fruit is allowed to ferment for three or four days before the liquid is strained off the pulp.

Syzygium guineense
Water Pear
Preparations—the fruits are edible.