Scientific
name
Strychnos innocua1 (Del.)
Family name
Loganiaceae
Local name(s)
Ugugia (Wolayetgna)
General description
‘Ugugia’
is a much-branched tree up to 10 - 15m high. The species looses its leaves
during the dry season. The bark is pale grey. Leaves are elliptic, glossy green,
opposite, shortly stalked or stalkless. The fruit is round, 4 - 7cm in diameter
green when unripe (see picture below) with a hard cover, turning orange-yellow
when ripening. The seeds are tetrahedral.
Edible part(s),
preparation methods and palatability
Fruits
are edible. To eat the fruit it has to be opened and inside there are like seed
compartments that can be eaten (see picture below). The ripe fruit is eaten and
the pulp-covered seeds sucked. The pulp can also be dissolved in water and made
into a juice which has a sweet-acid taste. The seeds are discarded. Children eat
the fruits in normal times and most adults only when there is food shortage.
Agroecology
The
plant is found in rocky low- and midland bushland areas in Koindo-Koyisha
Woreda.
Propagation
method(s)
Propagates by seeds.
Sample location(s)
Koindo-Koyisha (North Omo)
Remarks
A
similar species, S. madagascariensis (Poir.) grows in Kenya, Tanzania
south to Mozambique and South Africa.
1 Description
of a similar species is found in Maundu et al., 1999: p. 217
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