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Acanthosicyos naudinianus
Cucurbitaceae FAMILY

Acanthosicyos naudinianus

Acanthosicyos naudinianus

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

The tuberous roots are considered inedible or even poisonous and in Zambia they have been reportedly used for homicidal purposes[1]. The unripe fruits cause a burning sensation of the tongue and lips when eaten raw[1, 2].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

A plant of the arid tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 1,350 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 15 - 30°c, but can tolerate 12 - 32°c[2]. It is intolerant of frost[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 150 - 500mm, but tolerates 100 - 700mm[2]. Requires a sunny position in a deep, sandy, well-drained soil[1, 2]. Tolerates saline subsoils[2]. Prefers a pH in the range 6 - 6.5, tolerating 5.5 - 7[2]. Established plants are very drought tolerant[2]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required.

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-19. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Acanthosicyos+naudinianus>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  2. [2]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  3. [3]African Flowering Plants Database — Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. · http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php ↩︎Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map.
  4. [4]Flora Zambesiaca — http://apps.kew.org/efloras/fz/intro.html ↩︎An excellent online flora of plants from the Zambezi River basin. It lists a number of the plant uses as well as the habitats and botanical descriptions of the plants.
  5. [5]Cornucopia II — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications, California. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9628087-2-5 ↩︎The second edition of an excellent guide to the edible uses of plants, though it does not give any details of cultivation etc.
  6. [6]Gemsbok Bean and Kalahari Truffle — Leffers A. · Gamsberg MacMillan; Namibia. · 2003 · ISBN 99916-0-491-X ↩︎Details of the traditional uses of over 200 species of plants in northeastern Namibia. Written for the non-expert, there is usually at least one photograph with each plant entry.