Encephalartos caffer.

Encephalartos caffer Miq. Cycadaceae. Hottentot Bread-Fruit. Kaffir Bread.

South Africa. The interior of the trunk and the center of the ripe female cones contain a spongy, farinaceous pith, made use of by the Kaffirs as food. On the female cone, seeds as large as unshelled Jordan almonds are contained between the scales, and are surrounded with a reddish pulp, which is good to eat. Barrow says it is used by the Kaffirs as food. The stem, when stripped of its leaves, resembles a large pineapple. The Kaffirs bury it for some months in the ground, then pound it, and extract a quantity of farinaceous matter of the nature of sago. This sago is a favorite food with the natives and is not unacceptable to the Dutch settlers when better food cannot be had.

Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World, 1919, was edited by U. P. Hedrick.