Urera trinervis (PROTA)

Plant Resources of Tropical Africa Introduction

List of species

General importance
Geographic coverage Africa
Geographic coverage World
Vegetable
Medicinal
Fibre
Food security

Urera trinervis (Hochst. ex Krauss) Friis & Immelman

Protologue: Nord. Journ. Bot. 7: 126 (1987).

Family: Urticaceae

Synonyms

Elatostema trinervis Hochst. (1844), Urera cameroonensis Wedd. (1869).

Origin and geographic distribution

Urera trinervis is widely distributed in the lowland forest regions of tropical Africa, from Ghana east to south-western Ethiopia, and south to South Africa (Natal).

Uses

Urera trinervis is occasionally used in DR Congo as a cooked vegetable. The bark fibre is used for making ropes and is esteemed in both DR Congo and Nigeria for making fishing lines. In Cameroon the leaves are used to treat scabies. In Tanzania the Shambaa people chew the leaves and swallow the juice to treat bilious disorders. In Nigeria the leaf-sap is drunk to treat intestinal disorders. The stems yield potable water when cut; in Congo this water is drunk to treat tachycardia.

Properties

Aqueous leaf extracts of the tropical American Urera baccifera (L.) Wedd. have demonstrated anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities, but nothing is known about the phytochemistry of the African Urera species.

Botany

Dioecious liana up to 60 m long; stem up to 7 cm in diameter, terete, attached by adventitious roots; stinging hairs usually only on inflorescences. Leaves alternate, simple; stipules connate, bifid at apex, early caducous; petiole up to 6 cm long; blade elliptical, ovate or obovate, up to 12 cm long, base cuneate, truncate or rounded, apex long-acuminate, margin entire, 3-veined from the base. Inflorescence an axillary, lax panicle; male inflorescence c. 6.5 cm long; female inflorescence c. 2 cm long. Flowers unisexual, regular, small, c. 1.5 mm long, 4-merous; male flowers with c. 1 mm long pedicel; female flowers sessile, with indistinctly lobed perianth. Fruit an achene up to 2 mm long, surrounded by the fleshy perianth.

Urera comprises about 35 species and occurs in tropical Africa including Madagascar, tropical America and Hawaii.

Ecology

Urera trinervis occurs in rainforest, riverine forest and coastal forest, especially at forest edges and in clearings, sometimes epiphytic. In tropical Africa it occurs up to 1600 m altitude.

Management

In DR Congo Urera trinervis is sometimes cultivated for its bark fibre, but no information on cultivation practices appears to have been published.

Genetic resources

Urera trinervis is widespread and not in danger of genetic erosion.

Prospects

Urera trinervis is likely to remain of local importance only as a vegetable and fibre crop.

Major references

• Burkill, H.M., 2000. The useful plants of West Tropical Africa. 2nd Edition. Volume 5, Families S–Z, Addenda. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, United Kingdom. 686 pp.

• Friis, I., 1986. The genus Urera (Urticaceae) in eastern tropical Africa. Nordic Journal of Botany 5: 547–553.

• Friis, I., Immelman, K. & Wilmot-Dear, C.M., 1987. New taxa and combinations in Old World Urticaceae. Nordic Journal of Botany 7: 125–126.

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

Other references

• Badilla, B., Mora, G., Lapa, A.J., Silva, E. & Jose, A., 1999. Anti-inflammatory activity of Urera baccifera (Urticaceae) in Sprague-Dawley rats. Revista de Biologia Tropical 47(3): 365–371.

• 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.

• 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.

• Letouzey, R., 1968. Urticaceae. Flore du Cameroun. Volume 8. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France. pp. 67–216.

Author(s)

• C.H. Bosch

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

Correct citation of this article

Bosch, C.H., 2004. Urera trinervis (Hochst.) Friis & Immelman. [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. <http://www.prota4u.org/search.asp>.

Accessed 18 December 2024.

• See the Prota4U database.