''Cadaba'' is a genus of
shrub
A shrub (often also called a 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 ...
s in family
Capparaceae, with about 30 species. These have simple, alternately set leaves. The
zygomorphic 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 in southern
Ethiopia.
[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)
Species include
* ''
Cadaba aphylla''
* ''
Cadaba farinosa''
* ''
Cadaba fruticosa''
* ''
Cadaba glandulosa''
* ''
Cadaba insularis''
* ''
Cadaba kirkii''
* ''
Cadaba natalensis''
* ''
Cadaba termitaria''
References
External links
GRIN Species List''Cadaba'' of Zimbabwe
Brassicales genera
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Brassicales-stub