Gesho
| Gesho | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Habit of Rhamnus prinoides | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Rhamnaceae |
| Genus: | Rhamnus |
| Species: | R. prinoides |
| Binomial name | |
| Rhamnus prinoides | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Rhamnus prinoides, the shiny-leaf buckthorn, is an African shrub or small tree in the family Rhamnaceae. Commonly referred to as gesho, it was first scientifically described by French botanist Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle in 1789.[3]
Description
[edit]Rhamnus prinoides occurs from Ethiopia, Eritrea and South Sudan through eastern and southern Africa to South Africa, with outlier populations in Cameroon and Yemen, at medium to high elevations.[2] They grow near streams or along forest margins. The small edible fruits are shiny red and berry-like.
Uses
[edit]The Rhamnus prinoides plant has many uses amongst the inhabitants of Africa. All parts of the plant are harvested and used for nutrition, medicine or religious purposes.
In Ethiopia and Eritrea, where the plant is known as gesho or gešo,[4] it is used in a manner similar to hops. The stems are boiled and the extract mixed with honey to ferment a mead called tej in Amharic and myes in Tigrinya.[5]
It is also used in the brewing of tella (siwa in Tigrinya), an Ethiopian and Eritrean beer.[6] This local drink is made from gesho as a major ingredient. Gesho leaves are sundried and pounded with mortar and pestle into flour. Barley malt is prepared and sundried and ground. These two ingredients are mixed, in a proportion that varies from maker to maker, and fermented 3 to 5 days on average. Finger millet (or sorghum and maize flour regionally) are baked, and finally mixed with the fermented solution. After 1–2 days of fermentation, the tella can be filtered and consumed in a drink locally called guesh (tsiray in Tigrinya). In Central Kenya the plant is known as "Mûkarakinga" and it is believed to be medicinal. The bark of the plant is cut, boiled and then added to soup.
Gallery
[edit]
Foliage
Flower
Unripe fruit
Ripe fruit
References
[edit]
- ↑ Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) & IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group) (2020). "Rhamnus prinoides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020 e.T146405653A146444001. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T146405653A146444001.en. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- 1 2 "Rhamnus prinoides L'Hér". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 18 September 2026.
- ↑ "Rhamnus prinoides L'Hér". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ↑ Pankhurst, Rita. "Gešo". In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha, edited by Siegbert Uhlig. 773. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005
- ↑ Richard Pankhurst, Economic History of Ethiopia (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University, 1968), p. 194.
- ↑ Amborn, Hermann. Sewa in Tigringa "Ṭälla." In Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: O-X: Vol. 4, edited by Siegbert Uhlig. 848-49. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010.
- "Rhamnus prinoides". PlantZAfrica.com. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
- Trees of Southern Africa, K C Palgrave, 1984 ISBN 0-86977-081-0
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- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Rhamnus (plant)
- Afromontane flora
- Flora of East Tropical Africa
- Flora of Northeast Tropical Africa
- Flora of South Tropical Africa
- Flora of Cameroon
- Flora of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Flora of Lesotho
- Flora of South Africa
- Flora of Swaziland
- Flora of Yemen
- Trees of Ethiopia
- Trees of South Africa
- Least concern flora of Africa
- Ethiopian cuisine
- Plants described in 1789
- Taxa named by Charles Louis L'Héritier de Brutelle
- Rosid tree stubs
- Rhamnaceae stubs
- Ethiopia stubs
- African cuisine stubs