Icacinaceae FAMILY

Icacina oliviformis

Edibility

2/5

Medicinal

3/5

Safety & Hazards

The tubers are poisonous raw, and need to be treated before eating them[ 317 Title Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants Publication Author Website http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Terse details of a huge range of useful plants. ]. 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[ 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/ ]. The leaves are toxic to sheep and cause death332].

Botanical Description

False yam is an erect, woody herb or scandent shrub producing a number of stems up to 1 metre long from a large, subterranean, long-rooted tuber[ 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/ ]. A popular medicinal plant in its local area, the plant is also sometimes cultivated locally in Senegal for these tubers, which are eaten, especially in times of famine[ 317 Title Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants Publication Author Website http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Terse details of a huge range of useful plants. ].

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

Native RangeTropical Africa - Senegal to S. Nigeria, also Central African Republic and Sudan.

HabitatRoadsides and waste places in the savannah scrub[ 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/ ]. A weed of cultivation, it is common around villages and on old farmland, especially in yam-fields[ 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/ ].