Sutherlandia frutescens
| Sutherlandia frutescens | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Fabales |
| Family: | Fabaceae |
| Subfamily: | Faboideae |
| Tribe: | Galegeae |
| Genus: | Sutherlandia |
| Species: | S. frutescens |
| Binomial name | |
| Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R.Br.[1] | |
Sutherlandia frutescens (cancer bush,[2] balloon pea, sutherlandia, phetola ("it changes") in seTswana, and insiswa ("the one that drives away the darkness") in isiZulu; syn. Colutea frutescens L., Lessertia frutescens (L.) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning) is a southern African legume once used as a traditional medicine.[citation needed] It is a shrub with bitter, aromatic leaves. Red-orange flowers appear in spring to mid-summer.[3]
Cultivation
Sutherlandia frutescens is a small bush growing up to about 1 m (39 in) high. It is native to dry parts of southern Africa, preferring full sun but tolerant of a wide variety of soil types. It is a tough plant, hardy, fast growing and drought tolerant but short lived. Seeds germinate readily in around two to three weeks and established plants self-seed readily. Seedlings may be vulnerable to damping off, but provided it is in well-drained soil, it grows readily and is not very vulnerable to pests.[3]
Traditional uses
Despite Sutherlandia frutescens having been used by a wide variety of indigenous communities throughout South Africa, the South African Herbal Science and Medicine Institute (SAHSMI) is participating in discussion of bio-prospecting in order to be able to claim intellectual property rights concerning the use of Sutherlandia extracts.
| This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. |