''Vernonia amygdalina'', a member of the
daisy family, is a small to medium-sized shrub that grows in tropical
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
. ''V. amygdalina'' typically grows to a height of . The leaves are elliptical and up to long. Its bark is rough.
''V. amygdalina'' is commonly called bitter leaf in English because of its bitter taste.
Uses
Food
The leaves are a staple vegetable in soups and stews of various cultures throughout equatorial Africa. They are washed to reduce their bitterness, after which they are dried and used to prepare meat dishes. In
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
, leaves are also used in place of
hops
Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whic ...
to brew beer. The leaves can also be used to make bitter leaf soup, a delicacy which is one of the most traditional soups in Nigeria. It is native to the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria.
Other
In Nigeria, twigs and sticks from this plant are used as a chewing stick for dental hygiene and the stems are used for soap in Uganda. In Ghana, the young leaves rather than the old, has gained credence for its potent anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory activity; and have been proven using animal models.
In the Northern part of Nigeria, it has been added to horse feed to provide a strengthening or fattening tonic called ‘Chusar Doki’ in Hausa.
Zoopharmacognosy
In the wild,
chimpanzee
The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...
s have been observed to ingest the leaves when suffering from parasitic infections.
References
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3744526
amygdalina
Leaf vegetables
Plants used in traditional African medicine
Flora of West Tropical Africa