Plant Resources of Tropical Africa

Phyolacca dodecandra or the Africal soap berry belongs to the family Phytolaccaceae and is native to most of sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It has been introduced in Asia and tropical America. It is a climbing or scrambling shrub with stems up to 10(–20) m long and a taproot; the small flowers are on a raceme and the fruits are strikingly orange to purplish red.

Various parts of Phytolacca dodecandra are widely used as a medicine for numerous ailments, despite the toxicity of the plant. An extract of the roots, leaves, fruits and seeds is taken as a purgative for humans and animals, as an anthelmintic and to treat oedema and intestinal problems such as diarrhoea and abdominal pain. The leaf sap is applied to wounds and skin ailments; the sap is cicatrizing and haemostatic and causes a burning sensation on the skin. An infusion of the fruit or the root decoction is also widely taken to treat venereal diseases, bilharzia, rabies, malaria, sore throat and other respiratory problems, rheumatic pain, jaundice, as well as anthrax and leeches in animals.
The fruits, when dried, powdered and mixed with water, yield a foaming detergent, traditionally used in Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda for washing clothes, and also to wash the body. Soap has also been made from the ashes of burnt plants. In Ethiopia and Zimbabwe unripe fruits are widely applied to control bilharzia-transmitting snails, as they contain molluscicidal saponins. It is a cheaper and less toxic product than synthetic molluscicides.

There is considerable difference in opinion about the edibility of the leaves and shoots. In West and Central Africa soup is prepared from them, in eastern and southern Africa the whole plant is considered poisonous.

leafy branch with young inflorescence

Phytolacca dodecandra fruits have great potential as a molluscicide. Agronomic studies to select cultivars with high fruit and saponin yields and pest resistance have been effected, but more research is needed to find ways of making the fruits serve as a supplement or substitute for other detergents. Socio-economic research is needed to evaluate the use of the fruits for local schistosomiasis control.