The oyster nut, Telfairia pedata, a vine that grows on tall trees, is native only to Tanzania and Uganda. Its nuts are valued by the local population mainly because of their lactogenic properties. Despite its nutritional, economic, and environmental benefits and its low management demands, little is known about why this species has almost disappeared from local markets and farmlands. We selected 187 publications that described the current nutritional, environmental, and commercialization potential of Telfairia species as well as their socioeconomic importance, domestication, and utilization in East Africa. Most studies (60%) mentioned the nutritional and health benefits of Telfairia species, while 40% described their socioeconomic and environmental potentials. Almost half of the studies (47%) cited lack of alternative propagation methods to seeds, including cuttings, tissue culture, and grafting, as a constraint for oyster nut development. We conclude that studies on oyster nut production are rare despite its potential to contribute to food security, environmental conservation, and commercialization. The future of oyster nut production depends on the efforts by agriculturalists, conservationists, and nutritionists to conduct collaborative research and outreach programmes on this underutilized crop to diversify livelihoods of Tanzania’s smallholder farmers.

牡蛎坚果Telfaria pedata是一种生长在高大树木上的藤本植物，仅原产于坦桑尼亚和乌干达。它的坚果受到当地居民的重视，主要是因为它们的催乳特性。尽管它具有营养、经济和环境效益，且管理要求低，但人们对该物种几乎从当地市场和农田消失的原因知之甚少。我们选择了 187 份出版物，这些出版物描述了Telfairia物种当前的营养、环境和商业化潜力，以及它们在东非的社会经济重要性、驯化和利用。大多数研究 (60%) 提到了Telfairia的营养和健康益处物种，而 40% 描述了它们的社会经济和环境潜力。几乎一半的研究 (47%) 指出缺乏替代种子的繁殖方法，包括扦插、组织培养和嫁接，是牡蛎坚果发育的制约因素。我们得出的结论是，尽管牡蛎坚果有可能为粮食安全、环境保护和商业化做出贡献，但对牡蛎坚果生产的研究很少。牡蛎坚果生产的未来取决于农业学家、环保主义者和营养学家对这种未充分利用的作物开展合作研究和推广计划的努力，以使坦桑尼亚小农的生计多样化。