Indigenous Knowledge on the Uses and Morphological Variation among Strychnos spinosa Lam. at Oyemeni Area, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Zoliswa Mbhele, Godfrey Elijah Zharare, Clement Zimudzi and Nontuthuko Rosemary Ntuli
Additional contact information
Zoliswa Mbhele: Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa
Godfrey Elijah Zharare: Department of Agriculture, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa
Clement Zimudzi: Department of Biological Sciences and Ecology, Faculty of Science, University of Zimbabwe, Harare P.O. Box MP167, Zimbabwe
Nontuthuko Rosemary Ntuli: Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering, University of Zululand, KwaDlangezwa 3886, South Africa

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: The majority of rural communities in South Africa are characterised by insufficient nutrition and food insecurity at the household level. Due to a lack of information about indigenous fruit trees and their use, food-insecure households are missing out on the nutrition that these fruits provide. Strychnos spinosa Lam. (monkey orange; umHlala ) has been identified as one of southern Africa’s top priority fruit species for domestication. However, indigenous information on S. spinosa usage and morphological diversity is still lacking. Indigenous knowledge of species characteristics might be a good place to start when attempting to understand variations in key phenotypic traits. Information on the use and morphological variation of S. spinosa was collected from participants of 100 randomly selected homesteads. Participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The results indicate that S. spinosa is a multi-purpose tree with numerous uses. Most respondents (97%) mentioned that they use it for fermented maize meal ( umBhantshi ); and others mentioned fermented porridge ( amaHewu ); alcohol; fruit; juice; jam; homestead protection; snakebite; firewood; food allergy; livestock increase; and only 7% mentioned for stomachache. Morphological variation was observed in leaf colour and shape, fruit rind colour, size, rind texture, pulp colour, pulp texture, and taste. However, the most mentioned variety featured green (78%), rounded leaves (78%) and green (39%), large (46%), smooth-textured rind (73%) fruits that had brown pulp (54%) and tasted sweet (58%). Understanding local knowledge systems and preferences can thus inform the selection of ethno-varieties that hold importance to local people and the potential to improve livelihoods in externally led domestication and development programs.

Keywords: Strychnos spinosa; indigenous knowledge; use; morphology; food; monkey orange (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/11/6623/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/11/6623/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:11:p:6623-:d:826581

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().