Cyphia volubilis a thirst-quencher to the informed

The baroe, bergbaroe or waterbaroe, botanically known as Cyphia volubilis, gets its common name from the Khoi people who used to dig up the edible tuber.

The inconspicuous climber stems grow from this potato-like tuber that contains a watery juice. Tubers are peeled and eaten raw, fried or baked. The plant used to be a staple food as well as a thirst-quencher.

The flower in picture shows a little touch of purple. It was photographed in September on a mountain slope near Greyton where some other specimens had pure white flowers. Some forms of the plant have a nearly uniform pinkish purple corolla (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Van Wyk and Gericke, 2000).