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Maerua angolensis
Also called Beadpod-tree, Bushveld beadbean, Knobbly-bean, Bead Bean
Beadbean is a drought-tolerant African tree (up to about 10 m) in the caper family, grown mainly as a landscape or savanna tree rather than a houseplant. It needs a hot, dry, seasonally wet climate and well-drained soil.
Maerua angolensis is a 10m tall, occasionally deciduous tree of the Capparaceae or caper family, often growing on termitaria and in thickets fringing seasonal watercourses, up to 1800m. Though never common, it is widespread in tropical Africa and arid regions, being absent from high-rainfall regions.
It is found in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Eritrea, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, extending southwards into Angola, Botswana, Caprivi Strip, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The genus comprises some 57 species, mostly in tropical Africa, but also extending into the Middle East and tropical Asia.
Despite their unpleasant, bitter taste, the leaves are used by African rural tribes during famine periods as a food supplement, and also used as a purgative. Powdered leaves are used as a fish poison and to treat anorexia and asthenia, while bark extracts and pulped leaves are used to promote the healing of wounds. Decoctions of the leaves are given to children suffering amoebic dysentery or jaundice, and to treat rheumatism, stomach-ache, epilepsy and diarrhoea, while decoctions of the bark are used to treat malaria and as an aphrodisiac. Game and livestock readily browse the foliage. This species, in common with other members of the family, is host to butterflies of the family Pieridae. Instar larvae may defoliate a tree completely, but leaves regrow readily.
Maerua acuminata · Maerua andradae · Maerua brunnescens · Maerua crassifolia · Maerua elegans · Rough Skinned Bush Cherry · Maerua oblongifolia · Forest Bushcherry · Maerua scandens · Maerua
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Maerua angolensis 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.
