Vitaceae FAMILY

Cayratia gracilis

Edibility

1/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Cayratia gracilis is a herbaceous, perennial climbing plant producing slender stems up to 7.5 metres long. These stems scramble over the ground, climbing into the surrounding vegetation and attaching themselves by means of branched tendrils[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ]. The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild, mainly as a medicine but sometimes also as a food.

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

Native RangeTropical Africa - Senegal to Ethiopia and Eritrea, south to Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and northeastern S. Africa; Arabian Peninsula.

HabitatUsually in shady and damp sites in tall grassland with scattered trees; forest margins; swampy and damp areas; streamside forest; savannah; bushland; thicket; fallows; waysides; sometimes ruderal; at elevations up to 2,130 metres[ 328 Title African Flowering Plants Database Publication Author Website http://www.ville-ge.ch/musinfo/bd/cjb/africa/recherche.php Publisher Conservatoire et Jardin Botaniques. Year 0 ISBN Description Contains information on over 150,000 plant names (including synonyms) giving a description and habitat, plus a distribution map. , 332 Title The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa. Publication Author Burkil. H. M. Publisher Royal Botanic Gardens; Kew. Year 1985 - 2004 ISBN Description 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/ ].