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Astraea lobata
Euphorbiaceae FAMILY

Astraea lobata

Astraea lobata

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

The whole plant is poisonous[1]. An arrow-poison made from the plant is reputed to be the most poisonous used in west Africa. The plant is simply crushed between stones with a little water and the arrows dipped in the paste[2].

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

The plant has spread from tropical America to become a widespread and often invasive weed in Africa. It has a strong tap-root and laterals, making it difficult to root out in cultivated land[1, 2].

Propagation

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

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]The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. — Burkil. H. M. · Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. · 1985 - 2004 ↩︎Brief descriptions and details of the uses of over 4,000 plants. A superb, if terse, resource, it is also available electronically on the Web - see http://www.aluka.org/
  3. [3]The tribe Crotoneae (Euphorbiaceae, Crotonoideae) in the Chapada dos Veadeiros, Goiás, Brazil — Sodré R.C. et al · 2017 · https://doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.321.1.1 · ISBN 1179-3163 ↩︎
  4. [4]Traditional Vegetables in Benin — Achigan-Dako E. Et al · Darwin Initiative; International Foundation for Science · 2009 ↩︎Issued as a PDF on the Internet, it contains basic information on over 250 species of plants used for food in Benin.
  5. [5]Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants — http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 ↩︎Terse details of a huge range of useful plants.
  6. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎