''Cadaba'' is a genus of
shrub
A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...
s in family
Capparaceae
The Capparaceae (or Capparidaceae), commonly known as the caper family, are a family of plants in the order Brassicales. As currently circumscribed, the family contains 15 genera and about 430 species. The largest genera are ''Capparis'' (about 1 ...
, with about 30 species. These have simple, alternately set leaves. The
zygomorphic
Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts.
Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spir ...
flowers, are solitary or stand in small clusters at the end of short side branches. These flowers consist of four sepals, none or four petals with a narrow claw at base and a wider plate at the top, a tube-shaped nectar producing appendix, four or five stamens that are merged for about half their length into a so-called
androgynophore, and a
gynophore on top of which will develop a cylindrical capsule with one or two cavities that contain many small kindney-shaped seeds, and opens with two valves. The genus name ''Cadaba'' is derived from the Arab word "kadhab", a local name for ''Cadaba rotundifolia''. Some species are classified as
famine food
A famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or ready available food used to nourish people in times of hunger and starvation, whether caused by extreme poverty, such as during economic depression or war, or by natural disasters such as dro ...
in southern
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
.
[Yves Guinand and Dechassa Lemessa]
"Wild-Food Plants in Southern Ethiopia: Reflections on the role of 'famine-foods' at a time of drought"
UN-OCHA Report, March 2000 (accessed 15 January 2009)
29 species are accepted:
[
* '' Cadaba aphylla''
* '' Cadaba baccarinii''
* '' Cadaba barbigera''
* '' Cadaba benguellensis''
* '' Cadaba capparoides''
* '' Cadaba carneoviridis''
* '' Cadaba divaricata''
* '' Cadaba farinosa''
* '' Cadaba fruticosa''
* '' Cadaba gillettii''
* '' Cadaba glaberrima''
* '' Cadaba glandulosa''
* '' Cadaba insularis''
* '' Cadaba kassasii''
* '' Cadaba kirkii''
* '' Cadaba linearifolia''
* '' Cadaba longifolia''
* '' Cadaba madagascariensis''
* '' Cadaba mirabilis''
* '' Cadaba natalensis''
* '' Cadaba parvula''
* '' Cadaba rotundifolia''
* '' Cadaba ruspolii''
* '' Cadaba schroeppelii''
* '' Cadaba somalensis''
* '' Cadaba stenopoda''
* '' Cadaba termitaria''
* '' Cadaba trifoliata''
* '' Cadaba virgata''
]
References
External links
GRIN Species List''Cadaba'' of Zimbabwe
Brassicales genera
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Brassicales-stub