''Maerua crassifolia'' is a species of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

in the

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 ...

family. It is native to Africa, tropical Arabia, and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, but is disappearing from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Foliage from this plant is used as

fodder Fodder (), also called provender (), is any agriculture, agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, domestic rabbit, rabbits, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs. "Fodder" refers particularly to food ...

for animals, especially

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

s, during the dry season in parts of Africa. The plant grows commonly in Yemen, where it is called ''Meru''. In the 18th century the plant's

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

name ''Meru'' () was used as the source for the genus name ''Maerua''. The 18th-century taxonomist was

Peter Forsskål Peter Forsskål, sometimes spelled Pehr Forsskål, Peter Forskaol, Petrus Forskål or Pehr Forsskåhl (11 January 1732 – 11 July 1763) was a Sweden, Swedish exploration, explorer, oriental studies, orientalist, natural history, naturalist, and ...

, who visited Yemen in the 1760s. It is used as a common nutrition source in central Africa, where it is called ''jiga'' and made into soups and other dishes. It was part of the daily diet of the Kel Ewey tribe of the tuaregs in the Aïr Mountains as late as in the 1980s, who would mix the cooked leaves with goat milk. ''Maerua crassifolia'' was considered sacred to the ancient Egyptians.

Distribution

Maerua crassifolia has been found growing along the

Tsauchab The Tsauchab is an Ephemerality, ephemeral river in the Hardap Region of central Namibia. Its source is in the southern Naukluft Mountains, from where it flows westwards through the Namib-Naukluft National Park into Sossusvlei, an endorheic ba ...

river in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

at the following geo coordinates: 24°38'42.6"S 15°39'06.9"E.

References

*Cook, J.A. et al. (1998). Nutrient content of two indigenous plant foods of the Western Sahel: ''Balanites aegyptiaca'' and ''Maerua crassifolia''. ''Journal of Food Composition and Analysis'' 11:3 221–30.

External links

Botanical Information

crassifolia Flora of Africa Flora of North Africa Flora of Western Asia Flora of Morocco Flora of Israel Flora of Palestine (region) Flora of Yemen Flora of Niger Flora of Egypt Crops originating from Africa Edible plants Taxa named by Peter Forsskål {{Brassicales-stub