Skip to content Skip to left sidebar Skip to right sidebar Skip to footer

Tag: Herbal/Medicinal

Adenium Obesum

Family: Apocynaceae
KSW: Madiga
GIR: Mwanyoka/Mwadiga

This is a low maintenance spectacular shrub very suited to coastal gardening. Grows from seed.

This species is understood to be poisonous, but it is used medicinally.

Shrub available from local nurseries.
Download PDF Document

Monodora Grandidieri

Family: Annonaceae
GIR: Mudzala simba/Mucherere/Muvipo/Mubulushi

Shrub or small tree. Sweet scented flowers. Fruit is green with white marks to 7cm long.

Habitat: Evergreen forest, on coral, also rain-forest, evergreen thickets and bushland, Brachystegia, Julbernardia
thickets, wooded grassland; at elevations from sea level to 900 metres.

The fruit is edible. The leaves and roots are used to treat spiritual ailments.

Available from Kivukoni Indigenous Tree Nursery
Download PDF Document

Mkilua Fragrans

Small tree to 5M high with fragrant flowers.
Grow from seeds & cuttings. Requires shade.

The plant is classified as ‘Vulnerable’ in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The Mkilau fragrans plant is quite interesting, and it has several unique properties which make it integral to the culture of coastal communities in East Africa. From aphrodisiac to wedding decor, the flower is truly unique…

Essential oils have been extracted for centuries by coastal communities in Kenya—as well as other coastal communities—to provide perfume for social gatherings such as weddings. Mkilau fragrans essential oils are not typically used in used in the perfume industry, however. This results in a lack of incentive to grow these plants, and has ultimately lead to the species to be placed in the “Vulnerable” category in terms of endangerment.

Additionally, Mkiluaynoic acid A, which can be extracted from the fruit of the plant, demonstrates anti-fungal properties.

The fun doesn’t end there. This flower turns out to be an aphrodisiac. Yes…the same flower used in weddings is also the one used in the bedroom. This flower is most notably known for its ability to keep men in the bedroom after the sun has set.

Quoted from – The Mysteries of the Mkilua fragrans, by Max Higgins.

Available from local nurseries
Download PDF Document

Asteranthe Asterias

Family: Annonaceae
TSW: Mkilua mwitu
GIR : Muszhondoheranguluwe

Shrub or tree to 8M tall.
Habitat: sometimes dominant in the shrub layer of lowland evergreen forest. Aromatic bark. Sometimes
used for food flavouring. Flowers with unpleasant scent. Green petals turn white / crimson.

The roots and leaves are used as medicines.

Available at Kivukoni Indigenous Tree Nursery.

Possibly host plant to:

  • Graphium antheus – Large Striped Swordtail
  • Graphium policenes – Small Striped Swordtail
  • Graphium colonna – Black Swordtail
  • Graphium philonoe – Eastern White Lady
  • Abantis paradisea – Paradise Skipper
Download PDF Document

Lannea Schweinfurthii Var. Stuhlmanni

Family: Anacardiaceae

Gir: Mnyumbu

Ksw: Muyumbu-maji

Small to medium-sized, deciduous tree(7 to 9M) with its small, creamy white to yellow flowers and aromatic leaves.

Self seeded.

The fruit are edible.

The leaves of this tree are eaten by antelope. The fruits also attract many different bird species and monkeys. Bark used for making tea, rope, dye, a decoction against head and stomache ache, wood used for making stools and grain pestles and charcoal.

When in flower and in fruit my tree is visited all day by birds and monkeys and at night by bush babies.
Download PDF Document