Catha edulis

Also known as qat, gat, qaat, jaad, chat, jimaa, mayirungi, Abyssinian tea

Khat (Catha edulis), also known as '''Bushman's tea, especially in South Africa, is a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae, and the sole species in genus Catha'''. It is a shrub or tree native to eastern and southern Africa, ranging from Ethiopia and South Sudan to Angola and the Cape Provinces of South Africa. It grows in montane riverine and evergreen forests from 1,100 to 2,400 metres elevation.

OverviewAI-generated

Catha edulis, commonly known as khat, is a species of plant classified within the family Celastraceae. It belongs to the order Celastrales, class Magnoliopsida, and phylum Tracheophyta in the kingdom Plantae. The scientific name is cited as Catha edulis Forssk., with a historical reference to Celastrus edulis Vahl.

The species is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as of 2024. Records of the plant are held by institutions including UTEP, RSA, SBBG, CDA, and DAV. These records originate from the United States, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Malawi.

Synthesized by Vinony from 27 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, Gbif Occ, IUCN Red List, Encyclopedia of Life, Plants of the World, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

Least Concern

Catha edulis

SPECIES

KingdomPlantae
PhylumTracheophyta
ClassMagnoliopsida
OrderCelastrales
FamilyCelastraceae

Observations recorded1,148

Celastrus edulis Vahl, Symb. Bot. 1: 21. 1790.

via GBIF · IUCN · Kew POWO

Museum specimens

Specimen records: 396
With media: 341
Family: Celastraceae
Collections: UTEP, RSA, SBBG, CDA, DAV, SDSU
Recorded in: United States, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi

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Encyclopedic overview

63 sections

Contents

Terminology
Description
Society and culture
Cultivation
Uses
Distribution
Effects
Effects by timeframe
Chemistry and pharmacology
Demographics
History
Legal status
Africa
Morocco
Ethiopia
Somalia
Djibouti
Kenya
South Africa
Uganda
Asia
Bangladesh
China
Hong Kong
Taiwan
Israel
Indonesia
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
United Arab Emirates
Vietnam
Yemen
Europe
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom
North America
Canada
United States
Oceania
Australia
New Zealand
South America
Biofuel
Research programs
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links

It has a history of cultivation originating in the Harar region of Ethiopia, and it was subsequently introduced at different times to countries nearby in East Africa and South Arabia, notably Somalia and Yemen. Cultivated by farmers, its leaves are sold on the market to be chewed as a recreational stimulant. The world's largest consumers are East Africans, particularly Somalis, and nearby Yemen, with the largest producers/exporters being Ethiopia and Kenya.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Catha edulis” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.