| DESCRIPTION: It is a deciduous spiny scrambler or less often a small well branched tree that grows up to 10 m, with an upright trunk up to 13-15 cm in diameter and covered with scattered spines. Branches are normally covered with thick yellow hairs. Leaves soft and velvety, light green to greyish-green, alternate, 2.5-8 cm long, 1.3-3.8 cm wide, oval, oblong, or egg shaped. The pendulous fruits are from the size of a cherry to that of a golf ball, with a stout stalk, globose, pink to bright orange when ripe. USE: Fruits are edible and leaves are browsed by livestock although they are believed to be poisonous. The roots are very poisonous. The plant is used to cure madness, snakebite, headache, impotence and sterility (in women). A decoction of the leaves is used for the treatment of asthma, a decoction prepared by scraping the bark and mixing it with goat soup is drunk for chest pains. Decoction of the root is a cough remedy, but it must be used with care, as it is highly poisonous when taken in large quantities. Trees are grown as a live fence. GROWING PERIOD: Perennial. COMMON NAMES: Woolly caper-bush. FURTHER INF: It grows from Natal, Swaziland and eastern and northern Transvaal, westward across Botswana into northern Namibia, and northwards into tropical Africa. It occurs in coastal bush, forests, riverbanks, mountain slopes, evergreen forests, hot and dry thornveld, and in arid sandy plains. It grows most often as a spiny, scrambling bush or dense climber, hauling itself into the branches of trees and shrubs. It also grows on the tops of anthills, making a solid, tidy crown and occurs in the semi-arid and humid lowland and highland woodlands, forest edges and scrub. May become a weed if not adequately controlled. |