Indigenous leafy vegetables such as the spider plant (Cleome gynandra L.) can play an important role in alleviating malnutrition and providing a source of income to smallholder growers. In South Africa, the spider plant is often harvested from the wild. There is lack of information regarding the perceptions of end-users about this indigenous leafy vegetable in many regions of South Africa. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the perceptions of local communities about the spider plant in Limpopo Province (South Africa). This information on the perception of spider plant by end-users will serve as a pre-requisite to establish a breeding programme, strategies to conserve the vegetable and to establish commercial production of this vegetable. Questionnaires were administered to households in each of the five districts in Limpopo Province targeting a wide range of end-users. Their consumption patterns, availability and level of knowledge of spider plant was assessed. Chi-square tests were used to assess the differences in perceptions and consumption patterns. The results showed that some of the communities relied on harvesting the vegetable spider plant from the homestead for consumption. There was no commercial seed production of this vegetable in these communities. The highest consumption (> 50%) of the vegetable was observed in Waterberg and Sekhukhune districts. The results also showed that the age of consumers influenced dietary preferences with the old people preferring this leafy vegetable more than the young people. The bitter taste of the vegetable appeared to deter some potential end-users. These results showed that there is potential to cultivate the spider plant as a crop and to improve the taste of the vegetable. In addition, good quality seed could improve the production of the vegetable.

本土多叶蔬菜，例如蜘蛛植物（Cleome gynandra）L.）在减轻营养不良和为小农户提供收入来源方面可以发挥重要作用。在南非，蜘蛛植物通常是从野外收获的。在南非的许多地区，缺乏有关最终用户对这种本土多叶蔬菜的看法的信息。因此，本研究旨在评估当地社区对林波波省（南非）蜘蛛植物的看法。有关最终用户对蜘蛛植物的了解的信息将成为建立育种计划，保护蔬菜的战略以及建立这种蔬菜的商业化生产的前提。对林波波省五个地区中每个地区的家庭进行了问卷调查，针对的是广泛的最终用户。他们的消费方式 评估了蜘蛛植物的可用性和知识水平。卡方检验用于评估观念和消费模式的差异。结果表明，一些社区依靠从宅基地收获蔬菜蜘蛛植物进行消费。这些社区没有这种蔬菜的商业种子生产。在Waterberg和Sekhukhune地区观察到蔬菜的最高消费量（> 50％）。结果还表明，消费者的年龄对饮食偏好产生了影响，老年人比年轻人更喜欢这种多叶蔬菜。蔬菜的苦味似乎阻止了一些潜在的最终用户。这些结果表明，有潜力将蜘蛛植物作为农作物种植并改善蔬菜的味道。此外，