5 Deinbollia oblongifolia Seeds - Dune Soapberry - Indigenous Shrub Edible Fruit Tree Medicinal

Deinbollia oblongifolia Seeds

Dune Soapberry; Duineseepbessie

Deinbollia oblongifolia is an erect sparsely-branched shrub or small slender tree. Deinbollia oblongifolia is a shrub up to 1.5 m tall; the branchlets are hairless. Leaves are up to 300 mm long, the leaf stalk is up to 90 mm long, with a few hairs or hairless. The inflorescence is terminal, up to 350 mm. long, covered in reddish, velvety hairs. Flowers are cream-coloured. The fruit is a roundish berry, ± 10 mm in diameter, yellow when mature and appears in June–Oct. Seeds are up to 10 mm in diameter and are also hairless. Deinbollia oblongifolia grows in Eastern Cape, coastal thickets in Kwazulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and is also found in southern Mozambique. The edible fruit is eaten by humans, mammals and birds and the leaves are eaten as spinach in winter. The seeds lather in water and are used as soap. A root infusion is used medicinally for diarrhoea and dysentery. Powdered bark is rubbed into cuts in the forehead to relieve headaches.