Colour plates

A rural market scene, Kalundu, Kitui

Orperelong'o, Albizia amara, Kajiado. The gum is edible

Antidesma venosum. The ripe fruits are a source of dye

Basella alba, a leafy vegetable and an ornamental plant

Acokanthera oppositifolia. Ripe fruits are edible

Annona senegalensis, near Museve, Kitui hills

Boscia coriacea, an important food plant of the arid lands of northern Kenya

Boscia coriacea

Carissa edulis. Flowers are occasionally picked as a snack

A herdsboy displays a favourite fruit, Coccinia grandis, Lokwar village, south Turkana

Boscia coriacea cotyledons ready for boiling, Kaputir, south Turkana

A local cultivar of water melon (Citrullus lanatus), Lodwar

Commelina forskaolii

Ng'ikebootok women feasting on water melon along the Turkwel River, south Turkana

Selling Cordia monoica fruits, Lodwar market

Crotalaria ochroleuca

Dioscorea minutiflora, a common yam in Central Province

Finger millet, Eleusine coracana, a favourite for making porridge

Eriosema shirense. Small tubers are edible

Cyphia glandulifera. The leaves and tubers are used for food

Hyphaene compressa, Lodwar

Grewia villosa

Kigelia pinnata (K. africana)

Lablab bean Lablab purpureus

Landolphia buchananii

Collecting Nymphaea nouchali, Magarini, Malindi

An edible cultivar of the gourd Lagenaria siceraria, south-east Makueni

Lantana trifolia

Nymphaea nouchali

Bulrush millet, Pennisetum glaucum

Saba comorensis

Solanum villosum

Piliostigma thonningii. The fruit pulp is edible

Rhus vulgaris

Ndendela, Salacia sp. This species may be new to science but not to the locals in Thui, near Mukuyuni, Makueni

Sorghum, Sorghum bicolor

Stathmostelma propinquum, plains near Kajiado

Tamarindus indica

Tamarindus indica

Edible fungi, Termitomyces species, on a termite mound, north Kajiado

Strychnos spinosa

Edible fungi and Corchorus in a market in Siaya

A boy carrying a tuber of Thylachium thomasii

Stinging nettle, Urtica massaica. Leaves are used as a vegetable

Vatovaea pseudolablab. The seeds in these pods are edible

Ripe fruits of Vitex payos, Wikililye, Kitui

Uvaria scheffleri fruits, Mbui Nzau, near Kibwezi

Young plant of Vatovaea pseudolablab. The tuber is edible

A boy picking Vangueria infausta fruit, Kajiado

Vigna membranacea ssp. caesia, a leafy vegetable

Members of a women's group sowing traditional leafy vegetables. Kamuwani, near Muumandu, Makueni

Map 3. Agro-climatic zones of Kenya