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Landolphia owariensis
Also called White Rubbervine, White Ball Rubber
Landolphia owariensis is a tropical African liana (woody climber) in the dogbane family, grown and harvested mainly for its latex and edible fruit. It is a species, not a commonly cultivated garden plant, and it needs warm, humid, frost-free conditions.
Landolphia owariensis is a species of liana from the family Apocynaceae found in tropical Africa. Latex can be extracted from this plant for the manufacture of natural rubber. Other names for this vine are eta, the white rubber vine and the Congo rubber plant. Congo rubber was a commercial rubber exported from the Congo Free State starting in 1890, most notable for its forced harvesting under conditions of great human suffering, in the Congo Free State, detailed in the 1904 Casement Report. From 1885 to 1908, millions perished as a result of execution, forced labor, famine, and disease, while birth rates rapidly declined, with population falling by millions in this period; some writers estimate this loss to be as high as 10 million people.
Landolphia owariensis is native to the tropics of Africa, its range extending from Guinea in West Africa to Sudan and Tanzania in East Africa. When growing in open savannah it takes the form of a bush, but in forested areas it becomes a vine and can climb trees, reaching heights of 70 m (230 ft) or more. It has a rhizome which can survive bush fires, readily throwing up shoots which flower and fruit at a young age even before the twigs have become lignified.
The fruit are gathered for human consumption, and are either eaten fresh or fermented into an alcoholic beverage.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Landolphia owariensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
