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Plectranthus rotundifolius
Also called Chinese Potato, Hausa Potato, Madagascar Potato, Salaga Potato, Sudan Potato, Country Potato, Fra Fra Potato
Coleus rotundifolius is a perennial tuber crop in the mint family, native to tropical Africa and grown mainly for its small egg-shaped edible tubers. Its key to growing is warm conditions with loose, well-drained soil so the tubers can form.
Coleus rotundifolius, synonyms Plectranthus rotundifolius and Solenostemon rotundifolius, commonly known as native potato or country potato in Africa and called Chinese potato in India, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the mint family (Lamiaceae) native to tropical Africa. It is cultivated for its edible tubers primarily in West Africa, as well as more recently in parts of Asia, especially India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
C. rotundifolius is closely related to the coleus plants widely cultivated as ornamentals and is now again placed in the genus Coleus, after being placed in the defunct genus Solenostemon and in Plectranthus.
The egg-shaped tubers of the native potato appear very similar to the unrelated true potato, though they are smaller than modern commercial varieties. They are typically boiled, but may also be roasted, baked, or fried. Their flavor is bland, but sweeter than Coleus esculentus.
Native potato is overwhelmingly a subsistence crop, though flour milling is reported in Burkina Faso.
Common Thicket Spurflower · Hullworts · Coleus amboinicus · Coleus argentatus · Coleus barbatus · Coleus maculosus subsp. edulis · Coleus esculentus · Coleus scutellarioides · Hullworts
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Coleus rotundifolius 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.
