Grewia erythraea Schweinf.
For people
- Eaten by people
- Unknown
- Toxic to people
- Unknown
For livestock
- Grazed by livestock
- Unknown
- Toxic to livestock
- Unknown
Edibility and safety notes
One Ethiopian survey of wild food plants records the sweet ripe fruit being picked and eaten raw, but a second independent source could not be confirmed, so the plant is not listed here as edible. No information on toxicity to people was found. The UAE Red List notes that goats, gazelle and ibex browse the shrub, often heavily, but its value and safety as livestock feed are not documented. Do not eat wild berries unless the identification is certain.
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Description
An erect shrub up to 3 m tall, often browsed down to a low cushion. Bark grey; young branches covered with stellate hairs. Leaves simple, elliptic or obovate to almost round, toothed, wedge-shaped at the base, acute to blunt at the tip, hairless or stellate-hairy on both surfaces, 0.6-4.5 cm long and 0.4-4 cm wide, on a hairy stalk 2-14 mm long; stipules linear-lanceolate, soon falling. Flowers solitary or in pairs on hairy stalks about 1 cm long, white or yellowish, 2-2.5 cm across. Sepals linear-oblong, about 1.5 cm long and 3-4 mm wide, hairy outside; petals linear, 1.1-1.4 cm long and about 2 mm wide, clawed, with a kidney-shaped gland. Stamens numerous, slightly shorter than the style; ovary 4-lobed, hairless or nearly so, style 8-10 mm long. Fruit a 2-4-lobed drupe 5-7 mm across, hairless, orange to yellow tinged with red. Flowers from February to August. Propagated by seed.
Habitat
A desert species of mountains, slopes, rocky wadis and dry to semi-dry hills.
Distribution
From Egypt and north-east Africa (Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya) through the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Yemen) to Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Oman in the Hajar range including Jebel Akhdar; in the UAE throughout the Hajar Mountains.
Pastoral value
Browsed by livestock, especially the young leaves and the fruits; the leaves are most valued at the end of the dry season. Forage value is moderate.
Other uses
The sweet ripe fruits are eaten fresh in southern Yemen and Ethiopia.
Sources
- كتاب نباتات عمان
- Wild edible plants traditionally collected and used in southern Yemen (J. Ethnobiol. Ethnomed. 2021), Table 2 — Grewia erythraea: ripe red fruit eaten fresh, sweet — ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com
- Ethnobotanical study of food plants of the Afar, Ethiopia (PMC5499056), Table 4 — Grewia erythraea 'Hidayto': sweet fruit eaten by all age groups — pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- UAE National Red List of Vascular Plants — Grewia erythraea — nationalredlist.org
- POWO — Grewia erythraea Schweinf. — powo.science.kew.org
- Useful Tropical Plants: no record for Grewia erythraea — tropical.theferns.info
- Pl@ntUse PROTA stub: Grewia erythraea — plantuse.plantnet.org(PROTA)
From the same family
All in this family
Malvaceae
منكاع، المنقاع، التلمان
Abutilon pannosum (G.Forst.) Schltdl.
Malvaceae
Common Mallow, Dwarf Mallow, Cheeseweed, Buttonweed
Malva neglecta Waller.
Malvaceae
Small-flowered Mallow, Cheeseweed Mallow, Little Mallow, Marshmallow Weed
Malva parviflora L.
Malvaceae
Melhania
Melhania muricata Balf.f.