Girardinia bullosa (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Medicinal
Fibre

Girardinia bullosa (Steud.) Wedd.

Protologue: Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 4, 1: 181 (1854).

Family: Urticaceae

Origin and geographic distribution

Girardinia bullosa is distributed in eastern DR Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It is sometimes cultivated.

Uses

The bast fibre is made into string, sewing thread and textiles. In Ethiopia the bark is used for tying animals, making fences and making rope, and unspecified plant parts are used in veterinary medicine in case of retained afterbirth in cattle.

Description

Erect annual or short-lived perennial herb up to 3 m tall, monoecious or dioecious; stem up to 3.5 cm in diameter, unbranched or sparsely branched near the top, hollow; bark greenish to dark brown, pilose and densely covered with stinging hairs up to 8 mm long and 2 mm thick. Leaves alternate; stipules broadly lanceolate, fused for two-thirds of their length, 1.5–2.5 cm × 0.5–1 cm, hairy on the veins and ciliate; petiole 5–20 cm long, pilose and densely covered with stinging hairs up to 5 mm long; blade ovate to cordate, (10–)15–40 cm × (10–)15–35 cm, base truncate to cordate, apex acute to acuminate, margin doubly toothed, with on each side 10–18 teeth up to 2.5 cm wide, upper surface bullate, densely covered with stinging hairs 2–4 mm long, mineral concretions dot-like, lower surface densely pubescent, especially on the veins, and the largest veins also with stinging hairs up to 5 mm long, lateral veins in 5–7 pairs. Inflorescence an axillary panicle, unisexual; male inflorescence narrow, lax, up to 20 cm long, with flowers in clusters up to 1 cm in diameter; female inflorescence dense, with the ultimate branches forming small dichasia and with flowers single in bifurcations of the dichasia, 5–18 cm × c. 3 cm, densely pubescent and covered with stinging hairs. Flowers unisexual; male flowers on an up to 3 mm long pedicel, perianth 4(–5)-merous, c. 1.5 mm in diameter, each tepal with a dorsal horn-like appendage c. 0.5 mm long; female flowers sessile, up to 1.5 mm long, with 3 almost completely fused tepals and 1 free tepal up to 1.5 mm long, the middle of the fused tepals with a marked longitudinal keel, ovary superior, enclosed in the perianth, stigma filiform. Fruit an ovoid achene 2.5–4 mm in diameter, compressed, dark brown, usually warty.

Girardinia comprises 2 species distributed in mountain areas in the Old World tropics. It has the longest stinging hairs in the Urticaceae, but the sting seems less severe than that of some other genera, such as Laportea.

Ecology

Girardinia bullosa occurs at 1750–3000 m altitude, in edges and clearings of rainforest, and in grassland along roads and near houses, often in abandoned fields.

Management

Girardinia bullosa is propagated by seed. It does not resprout after cutting. After stems have been harvested in Burundi, the stinging hairs are removed and the entire bark is removed from the stem, after which the inner bark is separated in one piece and dried.

Genetic resources

In view of its fairly wide distribution and the types of habitats in which it occurs, Girardinia bullosa does not seem in danger of genetic erosion.

Prospects

Girardinia bullosa is a useful local source of fibre and tying material. No information is available on the fibre properties, however, making it difficult to assess its prospects. The presence of stinging hairs makes handling of the plant difficult.

Major references

• Friis, I., 1989. Urticaceae. In: Hedberg, I. & Edwards, S. (Editors). Flora of Ethiopia. Volume 3. Pittosporaceae to Araliaceae. The National Herbarium, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Department of Systematic Botany, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. pp. 302–325.

• Friis, I., 1989. Urticaceae. In: Polhill, R.M. (Editor). Flora of Tropical East Africa. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, Netherlands. 64 pp.

• Hauman, L., 1948. Urticaceae. In: Robyns, W., Staner, P., De Wildeman, E., Germain, R., Gilbert, G., Hauman, L., Homès, M., Lebrun, J., Louis, J., Vanden Abeele, M. & Boutique, R. (Editors). Flore du Congo belge et du Ruanda-Urundi. Spermatophytes. Volume 1. Institut National pour l’Étude Agronomique du Congo belge, Brussels, Belgium. pp. 177–218.

• Nzigidahera, B., 2007. Ressources biologiques sauvages du Burundi : état des connaissances traditionnelles. Institut National pour l’Environnement et la Conservation de la Nature (INECN), Bujumbura, Burundi. 115 pp.

Other references

• Baerts, M. & Lehmann, J., 2009. Girardinia bullosa. [Internet] Prelude Medicinal Plants Database. Metafro-Infosys, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium http://www.metafro.be/prelude. May 2009.

• Friis, I., 1981. A synopsis of Girardinia (Urticaceae). Kew Bulletin 36(1): 143–157.

• Hanelt, P. & Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (Editors), 2001. Mansfeld’s encyclopedia of agricultural and horticultural crops (except ornamentals). 1st English edition. Springer Verlag, Berlin, Germany. 3645 pp.

• MacLachlan, M., 2002. Manual of highland Ethiopian trees and shrubs. SIM Forestry Study Project, Injibara, Ethiopia. 381 pp.

• Medina, J.C., 1959. Plantas fibrosas da flora mundial. Instituto Agronômico Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil. 913 pp.

Author(s)

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

Correct citation of this article

Brink, M., 2009. Girardinia bullosa (Steud.) Wedd. [Internet] Record from PROTA4U. Brink, M. & Achigan-Dako, E.G. (Editors). PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa / Ressources végétales de l’Afrique tropicale), Wageningen, Netherlands. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>.

Accessed 31 March 2025.

• See the Prota4U database.