Description
This is an evergreen shrub of 1,25m x 1m which is frost resistant and drought resistant. It is very fast growing and easy to grow. It will tolerate all soil types and requires very little water. The bright orange-red sweet pea shaped flowers open in spring to summer and it is one of the most multi purpose and useful of South African medicinal plants. The Khoi and the San people living in the Cape were the first to use this plant medicinally. It’s common name indicates is use in cancer treatment. A tea is made from the flowers, pods and leaves for treating intestinal cancer. It is also made into a wash for sores, and drunk to reduce fevers, treat chicken pox and blisters. The botanist Thunberm wrote in 1772 that a decoction of the roots and leaves is used as an eye wash. It can also be taken for flu, liver problems, bladder ailments, rheumatism, diarrhoea, backache, as a daily tonic and stomach problems. The leaves, stems and fruit capsules can be boiled and the water added to the bath to bring down fevers and side effects of flu. It should not be used by pregnant women as it has been known to cause abortions. It also attracts birds and is the larval host plant for the Brown Playboy and the Lucerne Blue butterflies. Can take frost and is grown outdoors in England. The leaves and seeds are smoked as a dagga substitute. Named for Jules Paul Benjamine Delessert ( 1773-1847 ) a French banker, industrialist, philanthropist and botanist. with a notable herbarium and botanical library and he was an entrepreneur. He was made a baron by Napoleon. The old name of Sutherlandia came from James Sutherland (1639-1719) a Scottish botanist and the first superintendent of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh and Professor of botany at the University of Edinburgh. In 1683 he published a book which led to his doctorate and professorship. Frutescens means ‘growing in a shrubby way’.
