Asteraceae FAMILY

Crassocephalum crepidioides

Edibility

4/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial

GrowthFast

Grows well in soils that are rich in organic matter^[1]. An easy to grow vegetable, especially suited to shady localities in home gardens and tree plantations^[1]. Often cultivated as a food crop in the tropics, the plant has light, plumed seeds that are easily distributed by the wind. It has escaped from cultivation in many areas and become an invasive weed in some places^[2].

Propagation

Seed - Cuttings. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Crassocephalum+crepidioides>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

[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]Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk — http://www.hear.org/pier/scientificnames/index.html ↩︎A very good website detailing weed species that have been introduced into the Pacific Islands.
[3]Edible Leaves of the Tropics — Martin. F. W.; Ruberte. R. M. & Meitzner. L. S. · Echo. USA. · 1998 · ISBN 0-9653360-1-8 ↩︎A terse guide, giving reasonable detail on the more common leaf crops and brief information on a wide range of lesser known plants.
[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]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.