Taxon: Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schreib.

Summary

Genus:

Tylosema

Family:

Fabaceae (alt. Leguminosae)

Subfamily:

Cercidoideae

Tribe:

Cercideae

Subtribe:

Bauhiniinae

Nomen number:

411903

Place of publication:

Mitt. Bot. Staatssamml. München 3:611. 1960

Protologue link:

https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15216688

Verified:

05/17/2005 ARS Systematic Botanists.

Accessions:

31 (1 active, 0 available) in National Plant Germplasm System. (Map it)

Other conspecific taxa

Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations

Basionym
Bauhinia esculenta Burch.

Images (1 total. Click on image for more.)

Conservation Status

Reference(s)

PROTABASE, the information base of PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) (on-line resource).
Castro, S. et al. 2005. Systematic studies in Tylosema (Leguminosae). Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 147:109-110.
Cullis, C. et al. . 2018. Orphan legumes growing in dry environments: Marama Bean as a case study. Front. Plant Sci. 9:1199. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2018.01199.
Cullis, C. et al. 2022. Perspective on the present state and future usefulness of marama bean (Tylosema esculentum). Food Energy Secur. 12:e422. DOI: 10.1002/fes3.422.
Dyer, R. A. et al., eds. 1963-. Flora of southern Africa.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
Germishuizen, G. & N. L. Meyer, eds. 2003. Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14 National Botanical Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
Holse, M. et al. . 2010. Chemical composition of marama bean (Tylosema esculentum)—A wild African bean with unexploited potential. J. Food Compos. Analysis 23:648-657. DOI: 10.1016/j.jfca.2010.03.006.
National Academy of Sciences. 1979. Tropical legumes: resources for the future
Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants

Common names

Language	Name	seq	Citation
English	gemsbok-bean	1	National Academy of Sciences. 1979. Tropical legumes: resources for the future
English	marama-bean	1	Wiersema, J. H. & B. León. 1999. World economic plants: a standard reference CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
French	bauhinia	2	Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants

Distribution

order_code	Status	Continent	Subcontinent	Country	State	Note	Reference
1	Native	Africa	Southern Africa	Botswana			Germishuizen, G. & N. L. Meyer, eds. 2003. Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14 National Botanical Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
1	Native	Africa	Southern Africa	Namibia			Germishuizen, G. & N. L. Meyer, eds. 2003. Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14 National Botanical Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
1	Native	Africa	Southern Africa	South Africa	Gauteng		Germishuizen, G. & N. L. Meyer, eds. 2003. Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14 National Botanical Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
1	Native	Africa	Southern Africa	South Africa	Limpopo		Germishuizen, G. & N. L. Meyer, eds. 2003. Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14 National Botanical Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
1	Native	Africa	Southern Africa	South Africa	North-West		Germishuizen, G. & N. L. Meyer, eds. 2003. Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14 National Botanical Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
2	Cultivated	Africa	East Tropical Africa	Kenya		experimental	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
2	Cultivated	Africa	South Tropical Africa	Mozambique		small scale	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
2	Cultivated	Africa	South Tropical Africa	Zambia		small scale	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
2	Cultivated	Africa	Southern Africa	South Africa	Eastern Cape	small scale	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
2	Cultivated	Africa	Southern Africa	South Africa	Free State	small scale	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
2	Cultivated	Africa	Southern Africa	South Africa	KwaZulu-Natal	small scale	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
2	Cultivated	Africa	Southern Africa	South Africa	Western Cape	small scale	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
2	Cultivated	Asia-Temperate	Western Asia	Israel		experimental	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
2	Cultivated	Northern America		United States		experimental	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.

Native
Africa

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Botswana, Namibia, South Africa [Gauteng, Limpopo, North-West]

Cultivated
Africa

EAST TROPICAL AFRICA: Kenya (experimental)
SOUTH TROPICAL AFRICA: Mozambique (small scale), Zambia (small scale)
SOUTHERN AFRICA: South Africa [Eastern Cape (small scale), Free State (small scale), KwaZulu-Natal (small scale), Western Cape (small scale)]

Asia-Temperate

WESTERN ASIA: Israel (experimental)

Northern America

REGION: United States (experimental)

Reference(s)

Germishuizen, G. & N. L. Meyer, eds. 2003. Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14 National Botanical Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.

Economic Uses

Usage	Type	Note	Reference
Human food	oil/fat	potential	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
Human food	pulse	potential	National Academy of Sciences. 1979. Tropical legumes: resources for the future
Human food	pulse	potential	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
Human food	starch	potential	Olusola Omotayo, A. & A. Oladapo Aremu. 2021. Marama bean [Tylosema esculentum (Burch.) A. Schrieb.]: an indigenous plant with potential for food, nutrition, and economic sustainability. Food Funct. 12:2389-2403. DOI: 10.1039/d0fo01937b.
Human food	vegetable	potential	National Academy of Sciences. 1979. Tropical legumes: resources for the future

Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2026. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: https://npgstest.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=411903. Accessed 12 May 2026.