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Oncoba spinosa
Salicaceae FAMILY

Oncoba spinosa

Oncoba spinosa

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Tree
GrowthSlow

The plant becomes deciduous in places where the temperature falls to near 0°c, but as long as it is grown in areas with long, hot summers, is capable of withstanding temperatures as low as -5 to -7°c[1]. Prefers a sunny position in a rich, well-drained soil[2]. Established plants are drought tolerant[2]. A fairly slow-growing plant, increasing in height by about 50cm per year, though up to 1 metre has been recorded in areas with higher rainfall[3].

Propagation

Seed - best sown when fresh[3]. Surface sow the seed, or only just cover, and do not allow the compost to dry out. Initial growth is slow but will speed up after 9 to 12 months. Cite as: Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <tropical.theferns.info/viewtropical.php?id=Oncoba+spinosa>

Pollinators

Data unavailable

References

  1. [1]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/
  2. [2]Tropical and Subtropical Trees - A Worldwide Encyclopaedic Guide. — Barwick. M. · Thames & Hudson, London · 2004 · ISBN 0-500-51181-0 ↩︎A superb book, very concise and well written, giving a wealth of information on 400 or more species including descriptions, habitat, cultivation details and plant uses. A wealth of colour photographs bring each plant vividly to life.
  3. [3]PlantZAfrica.com — http://www.plantzafrica.com ↩︎An excellent site giving detailed descriptions and uses of many S. African plants.
  4. [4]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.
  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. [6]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.
  7. [7]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.
  8. [8]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.
  9. [9]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.
  10. [10]Field Guide to the Moist Forest Trees of Tanzania. — Lovett J.C.; Ruffo C.K.; Gereau R.E.; Taplin J.R.D · Frontier · http://www.york.ac.uk/res/celp/webpages/projects/ecology/tree%20guide/introduction.htm · ISBN 1-873070-33-0 ↩︎A lovely little book giving a basic identification guide to more than 650 species of trees growing in Tanzania. It is also available to view on the internet.