History Of The Buchu Plant
Other Common Names: Bookoo, Bucco, Bucku, Short Buchu, Agathosma betulina, Barosma Betulina, Barosma Crenulata, Diosma betulina.
Range: S.W. Cape, South Africa.
Habitat: Grow established plants in a well drained, sunny,
hot position. Minimum care is needed. Water on very hot days, or during
dry spells.
A South African herb, first used by the San to make tea, is causing
an international stir as a treatment for a wide range of ailments
including arthritis and high blood pressure.
It's called buchu - a round, green plant about the size of a
hedgehog that belongs to the fynbos plant kingdom and occurs naturally
only in mountainous areas of the Western Cape.
Native to the Cape region, Buchu has been used in Europe since the
16th century not only for urinary and prostate problems, but for gout
and rheumatism as well. It is still popular in South Africa.
Buchu is a small shrubby plant with round dark-green leaves which
grows wild in the remote ravines of the Cedarberg, Piketberg and Du
Toit's Kloof. Another species, known colloquially as steenbok buchu,
comes from Swellendam; and a third species, river buchu, has oval
leaves and grows along watercourses.
The Hottentots use several species, all under the common name of
'Bucku.' The leaves have a rue-like smell, and are used by the natives
to perfume their bodies. Its natural oil has a powerful penetrating
aroma, akin to peppermint.
The Hottentots would search for the plant, identified in winter by a
small white flower, and use it as medicine for a variety of ailments,
from rheumatism to bladder complaints, as well as a perfume.
The exporting of buchu leaves to Britain and the US, where it was
used as a hangover cure, was a well- developed industry last century.
Buchu leaves are collected while the plant is flowering and
fruiting, and are then dried and exported from Cape Town. The bulk of
the Buchu exported to London from South Africa eventually finds its way
to America, where it is used in certain proprietary medicines. By the
'40s, buchu exports to the US were worth more than R200 000 a year and
to the UK more than R160 000.
Buchu is a close relative of the orange, and the leaves have a
peppermint aroma and a bitter, astringent taste. Branches of the shrub
are harvested and left in the shade to dry for two weeks.
The leaves fall off the stalks and may be used to flavor vinegar, a
useful balm for bruises and strains, and to brew buchu tea, recommended
for kidney and bladder problems.
The principal constituents of Buchu leaves are volatile oil and
mucilage, also diosphenol, which has antiseptic properties, and is
considered by some to be the most important constituent of Buchu its
absence from the variety known as 'Long Buchu' has led to the exclusion
of the latter leaves from the British Pharmacopoeia.
The Cape Government exercises strict control over the gathering of
Buchu leaves and has lately made the terms and conditions more onerous,
in order to prevent the wholesale destruction of the wild plants, no
person being permitted to pick or buy Buchu without a licence.
Cultivation experiments with Buchu have been made from time to time by
private persons, and during the war experiments were conducted at the
National Botanic Gardens, Kirstenbosch (near Cape Town), the result of
which (given in the South African Journal of Industries, 1919, 2, 748)
indicate that, under suitable conditions, the commercial cultivation of
Buchu should prove a success, B. betulina, the most valuable kind,
being the species alone to be grown. The plant is particularly adapted
to dry conditions, and may be cultivated on sunny hillsides where other
crops will not succeed.
In gravel, inflammation and catarrh of the bladder it is specially useful.
Buchu has long been known at the Cape as a stimulant tonic and
remedy for stomachic troubles, where it is infused in Brandy and known
as Buchu Brandy. Its use was learnt from the Hottentots.
It was introduced into official medicine in Great Britain in 1821 as
a remedy for cystitis urethritis, nephritis and catarrh of the bladder.
It also has tonic, astringent and antiseptic properties. It is used
for genito-urinary inflammations and infections such as cystitis,
urethritis and prostatitis.
The most popular form of ingestion cure is buchu brandy, made by
steeping a few twigs of the plant in a bottle of brandy or, even
better, witblits moonshine. What the botanicals can't cure, the alcohol
sorts out.
Known Hazards: Buchu can cause mucosal irritation and is
contraindicated where there is acute genito-urinary tract inflammation.
This irritation is due to the glycoside diosmin and the essential oil
components diosphenol and pulegone.
Contraindicated in kidney inflammation.
Another species, Barosma crenulata or "oval buchu" is sometimes
substituted for and labeled as buchu. This spurious plant is
contraindicated during pregnancy because it contains a high level of
pulegone which is a mucosal irritant and uterine stimulant.
Other Common Names: Bookoo, Bucco, Bucku, Short Buchu, Agathosma betulina, Barosma Betulina, Barosma Crenulata, Diosma betulina.
Range: S.W. Cape, South Africa.
Habitat: Grow established plants in a well drained, sunny,
hot position. Minimum care is needed. Water on very hot days, or during
dry spells.
A South African herb, first used by the San to make tea, is causing
an international stir as a treatment for a wide range of ailments
including arthritis and high blood pressure.
It's called buchu - a round, green plant about the size of a
hedgehog that belongs to the fynbos plant kingdom and occurs naturally
only in mountainous areas of the Western Cape.
Native to the Cape region, Buchu has been used in Europe since the
16th century not only for urinary and prostate problems, but for gout
and rheumatism as well. It is still popular in South Africa.
Buchu is a small shrubby plant with round dark-green leaves which
grows wild in the remote ravines of the Cedarberg, Piketberg and Du
Toit's Kloof. Another species, known colloquially as steenbok buchu,
comes from Swellendam; and a third species, river buchu, has oval
leaves and grows along watercourses.
The Hottentots use several species, all under the common name of
'Bucku.' The leaves have a rue-like smell, and are used by the natives
to perfume their bodies. Its natural oil has a powerful penetrating
aroma, akin to peppermint.
The Hottentots would search for the plant, identified in winter by a
small white flower, and use it as medicine for a variety of ailments,
from rheumatism to bladder complaints, as well as a perfume.
The exporting of buchu leaves to Britain and the US, where it was
used as a hangover cure, was a well- developed industry last century.
Buchu leaves are collected while the plant is flowering and
fruiting, and are then dried and exported from Cape Town. The bulk of
the Buchu exported to London from South Africa eventually finds its way
to America, where it is used in certain proprietary medicines. By the
'40s, buchu exports to the US were worth more than R200 000 a year and
to the UK more than R160 000.
Buchu is a close relative of the orange, and the leaves have a
peppermint aroma and a bitter, astringent taste. Branches of the shrub
are harvested and left in the shade to dry for two weeks.
The leaves fall off the stalks and may be used to flavor vinegar, a
useful balm for bruises and strains, and to brew buchu tea, recommended
for kidney and bladder problems.
The principal constituents of Buchu leaves are volatile oil and
mucilage, also diosphenol, which has antiseptic properties, and is
considered by some to be the most important constituent of Buchu its
absence from the variety known as 'Long Buchu' has led to the exclusion
of the latter leaves from the British Pharmacopoeia.
The Cape Government exercises strict control over the gathering of
Buchu leaves and has lately made the terms and conditions more onerous,
in order to prevent the wholesale destruction of the wild plants, no
person being permitted to pick or buy Buchu without a licence.
Cultivation experiments with Buchu have been made from time to time by
private persons, and during the war experiments were conducted at the
National Botanic Gardens, Kirstenbosch (near Cape Town), the result of
which (given in the South African Journal of Industries, 1919, 2, 748)
indicate that, under suitable conditions, the commercial cultivation of
Buchu should prove a success, B. betulina, the most valuable kind,
being the species alone to be grown. The plant is particularly adapted
to dry conditions, and may be cultivated on sunny hillsides where other
crops will not succeed.
In gravel, inflammation and catarrh of the bladder it is specially useful.
Buchu has long been known at the Cape as a stimulant tonic and
remedy for stomachic troubles, where it is infused in Brandy and known
as Buchu Brandy. Its use was learnt from the Hottentots.
It was introduced into official medicine in Great Britain in 1821 as
a remedy for cystitis urethritis, nephritis and catarrh of the bladder.
It also has tonic, astringent and antiseptic properties. It is used
for genito-urinary inflammations and infections such as cystitis,
urethritis and prostatitis.
The most popular form of ingestion cure is buchu brandy, made by
steeping a few twigs of the plant in a bottle of brandy or, even
better, witblits moonshine. What the botanicals can't cure, the alcohol
sorts out.
Known Hazards: Buchu can cause mucosal irritation and is
contraindicated where there is acute genito-urinary tract inflammation.
This irritation is due to the glycoside diosmin and the essential oil
components diosphenol and pulegone.
Contraindicated in kidney inflammation.
Another species, Barosma crenulata or "oval buchu" is sometimes
substituted for and labeled as buchu. This spurious plant is
contraindicated during pregnancy because it contains a high level of
pulegone which is a mucosal irritant and uterine stimulant.
- SA's new power plant. Sunday Times (S.A.) - news - 21 November 1999
- Grieve. A Modern Herbal. Penguin 1984 ISBN 0-14-046-440-9
- HerbalDave's Notebook, David Satterlee, President of Herbal Alternatives, Inc.
No comments:
Post a Comment