ABSTRACT
This section contains monographs of 67 African food plants that are of considerable scientic interest based on literature citations as feasible candidates for the development of functional foods and/or possible sources of nutraceuticals. These are edible plants selected for their potential functionality and not necessarily by their ranking in the food table. Almost all of them are native to Africa but a few are naturalized crops that are cultivated and consumed at a signicant level in Africa for many years. Some of the plants have been featured in the earlier chapters and the additional information in this section should be taken along with the information provided therein. According to Peters and others,1 there are about 2155 African plant species that are used as food out of over 50,000 recorded species of African ora. The number of plants selected to be highlighted here represents only a tiny fraction of the food plants used in Africa and still less is the number of culinary plants that are used in traditional medicine, which are cataloged in Chapter 2 (Table 2.1). A review of the commercialized food plants by Van Wyk2 showed that Africa has made a substantial contribution in the global food base, with 119 species, which compares favorably with estimates of 126 crops for Europe, 68 for Central America, and 97 for South America. The entries are not comprehensive and the objective was not to provide a universal coverage of all edible African plants that contain phytochemicals that may be useful for health optimization.
