Icacina oliviformis
Icacina oliviformis
Safety & Hazards
The tubers are poisonous raw, and need to be treated before eating them[1]. If they are consumed without detoxification colic and dysentery will result, and if eaten in quantity death will follow within a few days332]. The poisonous principle of the tuber is a bitter; an alkaloid is also present, and a gum-resin at 0 .9 - 2 .8% concentration[2]. The leaves are toxic to sheep and cause death332].
Cultivation Details
Grows best in tropical areas with a marked wet and dry season, but with only moderate rainfall of 800 - 1,000mm in the wet season[3]. Requires a sunny position[3].Grows in the wild in light, sandy soils[3]. The plant often becomes a weed. It is very vigorous, rapidly invading newly cleared and cultivated land[2]. Eradication is fraught with difficulty because of its large, or very large, tuber, which may reach 30 - 50 cm diameter, or 25 kg in weight, set 30 cm or so deep in the soil, and with long creeping roots[2]. In Senegal yields have been reported to average 2 - 3 tonnes per hectare, although in some parts of west Africa yields are reported to reach 20 tonnes[3].
Propagation
Seed - Division of the tubers[3]. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Icacina+oliviformis>
Pollinators
Bees, Flies
References
- [1]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.
- [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]Root Crops — Kay. D.E. Revised by Gooding. E.G.B. · Tropical Development and Crop Research: London. · 1987 ↩︎Detailed information on about 40 species of tropical root crops.
- [4]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.