Caylusea abyssinica (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Vegetable
Medicinal
Ornamental
Forage / feed
Food security

Caylusea abyssinica (Fresen.) Fisch. & C.A.Mey.

Protologue: Index sem. hort. petrop. 7: 41 (1841).

Family: Resedaceae

• Reseda abyssinica Fresen. (1837).

Caylusea abyssinica is distributed in eastern Africa, where it is found in Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and Malawi.

In Tanzania tender leaves and stems of Caylusea abyssinica are collected from the wild, washed, chopped, cooked and eaten mixed with other vegetables. Often pounded pumpkin, sunflower or hemp seed or groundnut paste are added and the mixture is eaten alone or with a staple food. In Ethiopia the leaves are also used as a cooked vegetable. Boiled leaves are also used to treat stomach-ache and to expel intestinal worms. Ash of the whole burnt plant or a root decoction is taken as a remedy for abdominal pain in East Africa. Caylusea abyssinica is also used as fodder for goats and rabbits, and occasionally it is planted as an ornamental.

In Ethiopia seeds of Caylusea abyssinica, which get among the tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) harvest, are said to make the tef pancake (‘injera’) bitter. Seed is said to be poisonous to livestock.

• Erect herb up to 1.5 m tall, with slightly woody taproot and glabrous stem.
• Leaves alternate, sometimes upper leaves whorled, simple, sessile, axils often with clusters of smaller leaves or short branches; blade linear to lanceolate-elliptical, 2–9 cm × 0.5–2.5 cm, margin sometimes undulate, often rough or toothed.
• Inflorescence a dense spike-like raceme up to 40 cm long, rachis acutely ribbed, bracteate.
• Flowers bisexual, 5-merous, small; pedicel 1–2 mm long; sepals linear, 1.5–2.5 mm long; petals unequal, clawed, 3–4 mm long, white, 2 upper ones divided into 4–5 lobes, other ones entire or 2–3-lobed; stamens 10–13, filaments 3 mm long, anthers brightly reddish; ovary consisting of 5–7 free, boat-shaped carpels fused at base and rough at edges, each carpel bearing a short tooth-like style and stigma.
• Fruit consisting of stellately spreading mericarps splitting longitudinally.
• Seeds reniform, c. 1.5 mm × 1 mm, brown-black, wrinkled in a fine tiled pattern.

Caylusea comprises 4 species and is distributed in the Mediterranean region, and northern and eastern Africa.

Caylusea abyssinica is a non-aggressive weed and is found in open grassland, fields, roadsides and rocky areas, at 1500–2750 m altitude.

Caylusea abyssinica is usually collected from the wild, but people sometimes retain the plants when they grow in the garden or around the house.

Caylusea abyssinica is widespread and not in danger of genetic erosion.

Caylusea abyssinica will remain a minor vegetable. Its nutritional composition and medicinal properties need investigation.

• Abdallah, M.S., 1967. The Resedaceae. A taxonomical revision of the family. Mededelingen Landbouwhogeschool Wageningen 67–8. Wageningen, Netherlands. 98 pp.

• Kokwaro, J.O., 1993. Medicinal plants of East Africa. 2nd Edition. Kenya Literature Bureau, Nairobi, Kenya. 401 pp.

• Ruffo, C.K., Birnie, A. & Tengnäs, B., 2002. Edible wild plants of Tanzania. Technical Handbook No 27. Regional Land Management Unit/ SIDA, Nairobi, Kenya. 766 pp.

• Westphal, E., 1975. Agricultural systems in Ethiopia. Agricultural Research Reports 826. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, Netherlands. 278 pp.

• de Wit, H.C.D., 2000. Resedaceae. In: Edwards, S., Mesfin Tadesse, Demissew Sebsebe & Hedberg, I. (Editors). Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Volume 2, part 1. Magnoliaceae to Flacourtiaceae. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Department of Systematic Botany, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. pp. 170–176.

• Elffers, J. & Taylor, P., 1958. Resedaceae. In: Hubbard, C.E. & Milne-Redhead, E. (Editors). Flora of Tropical East Africa. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments and Administrations, London, United Kingdom. 6 pp.

• Robyns, W., 1951. Resedaceae. In: Robyns, W., Staner, P., Demaret, F., Germain, R., Gilbert, G., Hauman, L., Homès, M., Jurion, F., Lebrun, J., Vanden Abeele, M. & Boutique, R. (Editors). Flore du Congo belge et du Ruanda-Urundi. Spermatophytes. Volume 2. Institut National pour l’Étude Agronomique du Congo belge, Brussels, Belgium. pp. 544–548.

• P.C.M. Jansen, PROTA Network Office Europe, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 341, 6700 AH Wageningen, Netherlands

Jansen, P.C.M., 2004. Caylusea abyssinica (Fresen.) Fisch. & C.A.Mey. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Grubben, G.J.H. & Denton, O.A. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands.

Accessed 3 April 2025.