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Ruttya fruticosa
Ruttya fruticosa, also known as jammy mouth or jêmbekkie, is a shrub which is native to Africa. It can be found in South Somalia to Tanzania and in the woodlands of Dhofar, Oman. The name Ruttya was named in honour of Dr John Rutty and fruticosa means shrubby and refers to the habit of the plant.
The flowers of Ruttya fruiticosa used to be pulled off and sucked to extract the sweet nectar. The twigs were used to make kohl sticks and wedge-shaped dividers, which women used to part and plait hair.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ruttya fruticosa by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
