Maerua crassifolia: taxon details and analytics
- Domain
- Kingdom
- Plantae
- Phylum
- Tracheophyta
- Class
- Magnoliopsida
- Order
- Brassicales
- Family
- Capparaceae
- Genus
- Maerua
- Species
- Maerua crassifolia
- Scientific Name
- Maerua crassifolia
Summary description from Wikipedia:
Maerua crassifolia
Maerua crassifolia is a species of plant in the Capparaceae family. It is native to Africa, tropical Arabia, and Israel, but is disappearing from Egypt. Foliage from this plant is used as fodder for animals, especially camels, during the dry season in parts of Africa.
The plant grows commonly in Yemen, where it is called Meru. In the 18th century the plant's Arabic name Meru (مرو) was used as the source for the genus name Maerua. The 18th-century taxonomist was Peter Forsskål, who visited Yemen in the 1760s.
It is used as a common nutrition source in central Africa, where it is called jiga and made into soups and other dishes. It was part of the daily diet of the Kel Ewey tribe of the tuaregs in the Aïr Mountains as late as in the 1980s, who would mix the cooked leaves with goat milk. Maerua crassifolia was considered sacred to the ancient Egyptians.
...Maerua crassifolia in languages:
- Hebrew
- מרואה עבת-עלים
Images from inaturalist.org observations:
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Parent Taxon
Sibling Taxa
- Maerua acuminata
- Maerua aethiopica
- Maerua andradae
- Maerua angolensis
- Maerua apetala
- Maerua arenaria
- Maerua baillonii
- Maerua boranensis
- Maerua brevipetiolata
- Maerua brunnescens
- Maerua bussei
- Maerua buxifolia
- Maerua cafra
- Maerua calantha
- Maerua candida
- Maerua crassifolia
- Maerua cylindrocarpa
- Maerua decumbens
- Maerua denhardtiorum
- Maerua descampsii
- Maerua dewaillyi
- Maerua duchesnei
- Maerua edulis
- Maerua elegans
- Maerua eminii
- Maerua endlichii
- Maerua erlangeriana
- Maerua filiformis
- Maerua gilgii
- Maerua homblei
- Maerua humbertii
- Maerua juncea
- Maerua kaokoensis
- Maerua kirkii
- Maerua koratensis
- Maerua nervosa
- Maerua nuda
- Maerua oblongifolia
- Maerua parvifolia
- Maerua prittwitzii
- Maerua racemulosa
- Maerua rosmarinoides
- Maerua salicifolia
- Maerua scandens
- Maerua schinzii
- Maerua siamensis
- Maerua subcordata
- Maerua triphylla




















































