PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
No image available
Melianthaceae FAMILY

Melianthus major

Melianthus major

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

The leaves of this species are used in traditional medicine. However the plant is almost universally recognised by traditional practitioners as being toxic and is only used for external application[1, 2] The root is poisonous[3].

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Shrub
GrowthMedium

Requires a well-drained moisture retentive soil in full sun or light shade[4]. Prefers a rich loamy soil[5]. Fertile soils give good foliage effects but the plant flowers better on a poor soil[4]. A very ornamental plant it is only hardy in the milder areas of Britain[5], flowering freely in Cornwall[6]. In colder parts of the country it can be grown as a herbaceous perennial, dying down in winter but regrowing from the base in the spring[7, 4]. In these areas the rootstock must be well mulched[4]. The top growth is possibly hardy for short periods down to -10°c, whilst the rootstock is possibly hardy to -15°c if it is well mulched[8]. The flowers have a honey-like scent[9]. The bruised leaves have a strong aroma somewhat like peanut butter[PFAF]. Plants are often used in sub-tropical bedding schemes[5]. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer[10].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a warm greenhouse[11]. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle. Grow on the seedlings for at least their first winter in a greenhouse and plant out in late spring or early summer after the last expected frosts[PFAF]. Cuttings of greenwood stem tips in a frame in summer[4]. Suckers in spring[4]. They can be planted out immediately or potted up and kept in a frame for their first winter. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Melianthus+major>

Pollinators

Bees

References

  1. [1]PlantZAfrica.com — http://www.plantzafrica.com ↩︎An excellent site giving detailed descriptions and uses of many S. African plants.
  2. [2]Pharmaceutical monographs for 60 South African plant species — Scott, G. and Springfield, E.P. · 2004 · http://www.plantzafrica.com/medmonographs ↩︎A series of 60 monographs of S. African medicinal plants. Well written, with information on traditional uses and modern research into the plants.
  3. [3]Flora of the Cape Peninsula. — Adamson. and Salter. ↩︎A good flora but rather short on details of habitat. Not for the casual reader.
  4. [4]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  5. [5]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  6. [6]Trees and Shrubs in Cornwall. — Thurston. ↩︎Trees and shrubs that succeed in Cornwall based on the authors own observations. Good but rather dated.
  7. [7]The Milder Garden. — Taylor. J. · Dent · 1990 ↩︎A good book on plants that you didn't know could be grown outdoors in Britain.
  8. [8]Perennials. Volumes 1 and 2. — Phillips. R. & Rix. M. · Pan Books · 1991 · ISBN 0-330-30936-9 ↩︎Photographs of over 3,000 species and cultivars of ornamental plants together with brief cultivation notes, details of habitat etc.
  9. [9]Scented Flora of the World. — Genders. R. · Robert Hale. London. · 1994 · ISBN 0-7090-5440-8 ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive book on scented plants giving a few other plant uses and brief cultivation details. There are no illustrations.
  10. [10]Perennial Garden Plants — Thomas. G. S. · J. M. Dent & Sons, London. · 1990 · ISBN 0 460 86048 8 ↩︎A concise guide to a wide range of perennials. Lots of cultivation guides, very little on plant uses.
  11. [11]The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers — Brickell. C. · Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. · 1990 · ISBN 0-86318-386-7 ↩︎Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.
  12. [12]Conservatory and Indoor Plants Volumes 1 & 2 — Phillips. R. & Rix. M. · Pan Books, London. · 1998 · ISBN 0-330-37376-5 ↩︎Excellent photos of over 1,100 species and cultivars with habits and cultivation details plus a few plant uses. Many species are too tender for outdoors in Britain though there are many that can be grown outside.
  13. [13]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  14. [14]Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. — Tanaka. T. & Nakao S. · Keigaku Publishing; Tokyo · 1976 · ISBN - ↩︎The most comprehensive list of edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.
  15. [15]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
  16. [16]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  17. [17]Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). — Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. · Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. · 1986 · ISBN - ↩︎Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.
  18. [18]Nature's Colors - Dyes from Plants. — Grae. I. · MacMillan Publishing Co. New York. · 1974 · ISBN 0-02-544950-8 ↩︎A very good and readable book on dyeing.
  19. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎