''Rhamnus prinoides'', the shiny-leaf buckthorn, is an African shrub or small tree in the family

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae h ...

. Commonly referred to as "gesho" it was first scientifically described by French botanist

Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle (; 15 June 1746 – 18 August 1800) was an 18th-century French botanist and civil servant. Born into an affluent upper-class Parisian family, connections with the French Royal Court secured him the position of ...

in 1789.

Description

''Rhamnus prinoides'' occur from Ethiopia,

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

at medium to high altitudes. They grow near streams or along forest margins. The small edible fruits are shiny red and berry-like.

Uses

The ''Rhamnus prinoides'' plant has many uses amongst the inhabitants of Africa. All parts of the plant are harvested and used for nutrition, medicine or religious purposes. Gesho, as it is known in Eritrea and Ethiopia, In

and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, where the plant is known as ''gešo'' or ''gesho'', it is used in a manner similar to

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

. The stems are boiled and the extract mixed with honey to ferment a

mead Mead () is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey mixed with water, and sometimes with added ingredients such as fruits, spices, grains, or hops. The alcoholic content ranges from about 3.5% ABV to more than 20%. The defining character ...

called ''myes'' in

Tigrinya (; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions. History and literatur ...

and ''

tej Tej (from pronounced ; ; ) is a honey wine, like mead, that is brewed and consumed in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It has an alcohol content generally ranging from 7 to 11%. It is often home processed and consists of three main ingredients; honey, wa ...

'' in

Amharic Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...

. It is also used in the brewing of

tella ''Tella'' or ''talla'' (Amharic ጠላ; om, farsoo, ti, siwa) is a traditional beer from Ethiopia. It is brewed from various grains, typically teff and sorghum. Depending on region, barley, wheat, or maize may be used; spices can also be adde ...

('' siwa'' in Tigrinya), an Eritrean and Ethiopian beer.Amborn, Hermann. Sewa in Tigringa "Ṭälla." In ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: O-X'': Vol. 4, edited by Siegbert Uhlig. 848-49. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010. This local drink is made from gesho as a major ingredient. Gesho leaves are sundried and pounded with mortar and pestle into flour. Barley malt is prepared and sundried and ground. These two ingredients are mixed, in a proportion that varies from maker to maker, and fermented 3 to 5 days on average.

Finger millet ''Eleusine coracana'', or finger millet, also known as ragi in India, kodo in Nepal, is an annual herbaceous plant widely grown as a cereal crop in the arid and semiarid areas in Africa and Asia. It is a tetraploid and self-pollinating species p ...

(or sorghum and maize flour regionally) are baked, and finally mixed with the fermented solution. After 1–2 days of fermentation, the ''tella'' can be filtered and consumed in a drink locally called ' ( in Tigrinya).

Gallery

File:Rhamnus prinoides, loof, Ncagaberg, b.jpg, File:Rhamnus prinoides, blom, Moreletakloof NR, a.jpg, File:Rhamnus prinoides, rooi vrugte, Moreletakloof NR, a.jpg, File:Rhamnus prinoides, ryp vrugte, Moreletakloof NR, b.jpg,

References

* * Trees of Southern Africa, K C Palgrave, 1984 prinoides Flora of Africa Flora of Southern Africa Plants described in 1789 Trees of Ethiopia Trees of South Africa Ethiopian cuisine {{Ethiopia-cuisine-stub