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CLOSE THIS BOOKTraditional Food Plants of Kenya (National Museum of Kenya, 1999, 288 p.)
VIEW THE DOCUMENT(introduction...)
VIEW THE DOCUMENTForeword
VIEW THE DOCUMENTAcknowledgements
VIEW THE DOCUMENTIntroduction
VIEW THE DOCUMENTLocal names
VIEW THE DOCUMENTColour plates
Species accounts
VIEW THE DOCUMENTAppendix: Nutritional composition of edible parts of plants
VIEW THE DOCUMENTGlossary
VIEW THE DOCUMENTBibliography
VIEW THE DOCUMENTList of families and species
VIEW THE DOCUMENTBack Cover

Colour plates


A rural market scene, Kalundu, Kitui


Orperelong'o, Albizia amara, Kajiado. The gum is edible


Antidesma venosum. The ripe fruits are a source of dye


Basella alba, a leafy vegetable and an ornamental plant


Acokanthera oppositifolia. Ripe fruits are edible


Annona senegalensis, near Museve, Kitui hills


Boscia coriacea, an important food plant of the arid lands of northern Kenya


Boscia coriacea


Carissa edulis. Flowers are occasionally picked as a snack


A herdsboy displays a favourite fruit, Coccinia grandis, Lokwar village, south Turkana


Boscia coriacea cotyledons ready for boiling, Kaputir, south Turkana


A local cultivar of water melon (Citrullus lanatus), Lodwar


Commelina forskaolii


Ng'ikebootok women feasting on water melon along the Turkwel River, south Turkana


Selling Cordia monoica fruits, Lodwar market


Crotalaria ochroleuca


Dioscorea minutiflora, a common yam in Central Province


Finger millet, Eleusine coracana, a favourite for making porridge


Eriosema shirense. Small tubers are edible


Cyphia glandulifera. The leaves and tubers are used for food


Hyphaene compressa, Lodwar


Grewia villosa


Kigelia pinnata (K. africana)


Lablab bean Lablab purpureus


Landolphia buchananii


Collecting Nymphaea nouchali, Magarini, Malindi


An edible cultivar of the gourd Lagenaria siceraria, south-east Makueni


Lantana trifolia


Nymphaea nouchali


Bulrush millet, Pennisetum glaucum


Saba comorensis


Solanum villosum


Piliostigma thonningii. The fruit pulp is edible


Rhus vulgaris


Ndendela, Salacia sp. This species may be new to science but not to the locals in Thui, near Mukuyuni, Makueni


Sorghum, Sorghum bicolor


Stathmostelma propinquum, plains near Kajiado


Tamarindus indica


Tamarindus indica


Edible fungi, Termitomyces species, on a termite mound, north Kajiado


Strychnos spinosa


Edible fungi and Corchorus in a market in Siaya


A boy carrying a tuber of Thylachium thomasii


Stinging nettle, Urtica massaica. Leaves are used as a vegetable


Vatovaea pseudolablab. The seeds in these pods are edible


Ripe fruits of Vitex payos, Wikililye, Kitui


Uvaria scheffleri fruits, Mbui Nzau, near Kibwezi


Young plant of Vatovaea pseudolablab. The tuber is edible


A boy picking Vangueria infausta fruit, Kajiado


Vigna membranacea ssp. caesia, a leafy vegetable


Members of a women's group sowing traditional leafy vegetables. Kamuwani, near Muumandu, Makueni


Map 3. Agro-climatic zones of Kenya

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