Abelmoschus esculentus (L - the University of Maine at Fort Kent

Kermath, Bennett and Pulsipher - Food Plants in the Americs
FAMILY: Rubiaceae (coffee or madder)
ENGLISH: cheese shrub, Indian mulberry, red gal, redgal, strongbark
SPANISH: dub inagolosa, garañón, xoyen ak’
USES/NOTES: Yellowish drupe is edible. The plant’s phytochemicals
show promise in medicine. Used to treat warts in Belize.
NATURAL RANGE: Northeastern Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela through
the West Indies to Florida and Central America to southeastern
Mexico (Oaxaca through the Yucatán)
REFERENCES: Adams 1972, Lorence 1999, MBG n.d., Taylor 1998
Moringa oleifera Lam. [syn. M. moringa (L.) Small, M.
pterygosperma Gaertner, Guilandina moringa L.]
FAMILY: Moringaceae (moringa)
ENGLISH: ben nuts, ben-oil tree, ben tree, benzolive tree,
drumstick tree, horseradish tree, moringa pea tree, oil-of-ben
tree, sijan, West Indian ben, wild rhuda, water purifying tree
PORTUGUESE: acácia-branca, moringa, muringueiro
SPANISH: angela, árbol de las perlas, árbol de los aspáragos, ben,
jacinto, jazmín francés, maranga, maranga calalu, marango,
moringa, palo blanco, palo de abejas, palo de aceite, paraíso,
paraíso blanco, paraíso francés, perlas, picante blanco, resedá,
teberinto, terebinto
USES/NOTES: Although grown mainly as a landscape tree and for its
medicinal properties, roots were once dried and ground and used
as a condiment like horseradish (Armoracia lapathifolia), young
shoots, leaves, and flowers are used as spices, leaves make a
nutritious vegetable, and inner pods are eaten boiled. Although
the use of the roots as a horseradish substitute in India during
the British colonial period was widespread, it should be noted
that roots contain small amounts of the toxic alkaloid
moringinine that can have negative health consequences, when
ingested in sufficient quantities. Seeds, or “ben nuts” contain
oil of ben, used as a lubricant and cooking oil. Leaf, pod, and
bud are fed to animals and seeds have been used to render water
potable.
NATURAL RANGE: Sub-Himalayan regions of northwestern India, though
widely cultivated in the tropics and subtropics and naturalized
in many (especially dry) parts of Africa and to a lesser extent
the Neotropics, including Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica,
Panama, and northern South America
REFERENCES: Bourke et al. 1987, Cáceres et al. 1991, Kermath
(notes), Morton 1991, Omawale 1973, OAS 1973, Purseglove 1968,
Ruberté 1984, Schabel 2002a, Stevens et al. 2001, Verma et al.
1976, von Reis Altschul and Lipp 1982
Morisonia americana L.
FAMILY: Brassicaceae (brassica) or Capparidaceae (caper)
SPANISH: cebo de mico, higicho, mucurutú, naranjuelo, zorrocloco
USES/NOTES: Pulp of the variously colored dark red to light or dark
brown fruit is sweet, though potentially seedy.
DRAFT - DO NOT DUPLICATE OR DISTRIBUTE
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