Hydnoraceae FAMILY
Hydnora abyssinica
Hydnora abyssinica
Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
3/5
Safety & Hazards
None known
Cultivation Details
HabitPerennial
Growth—
A plant of low to moderate elevations in the drier tropics. In Tanzania it is found in areas where the mean annual rainfall is in the range 700 - 1,600mm[1]. Tolerates a variety of soils[1].
Propagation
Seed - it is able to germinate once the fruit has turned red, but will germinate far more quickly if it is left on the plant for another month or two before harvesting and sowing[2]. Cuttings of the underground stem[1]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Hydnora+abyssinica>
Pollinators
Beetles
References
- [1]Edible Wild Plants of Tanzania — Ruffo, C.K.: Birnie, A. & Tengnas, B. · Regional Land Management Unit; Nairobi. · 2002 · ISBN 9966-896-60-0 ↩︎A very well presented, simple guide to growing and utilizing wild food plants in Tanzania, with line drawings of each plant, a description, habitat and range, non-food as well as food uses, plus basic information on growing the plants.
- [2]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.
- [3]The genus Hydnora — Old Dominion University · http://www.odu.edu/~lmusselm/plant/parasitic/hydnora_intro.php ↩︎A downloaded web page giving fairly detailed information on the parasitic genus Hydnore.
- [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]Flora of Somalia — Thulin M. (Editor) · Kew Publishing, London. · 1993 ↩︎Detailed information on the plants of the region, often adding notes on the plants uses.