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360º PERSPECTIVES | ISSUE 7 | 2020/2021
Revisiting ancient wisdom to solve modern problems » Ex Africa semper aliquid novi. ‘Africa always brings forth something new’.
T
HUS WROTE THE ROMAN NATURALIST PLINY THE ELDER almost two thousand years
ago, referencing an earlier observation on African biodiversity by Aristotle. Wise words, but what were novel discoveries to these philosopher-scientists were probably old hat to the thousands of Khoi-San people roaming southern Africa at that time. Africa’s natural pharmacopoeia continues to draw the attention of modern scientists, with regular announcements of the latest wonder drug confirming the efficacy of Africa’s indigenous medicines. Rooibos, buchu, pelargonia, hoodia, sutherlandia, aloe, cannabis and hundreds of other plants were deployed alongside animal
and mineral-derived medicines in Khoi-San healing techniques that included poultices, aromatherapy, massage and ingested pharmaceuticals. One of the latest plants to excite the research interest of UWC’s Medical Biosciences Department is the unassuming kraalbos (Galenia africana). Known variously as brakkraalbossie, kraalbrak, geelbos, iqina, muisbos, perdebos and waterpensbos, kraalbos is an aromatic woody shrub native to South Africa and Namibia that often colonises land where animals have concentrated or overgrazed other vegetation, such as in and around a livestock kraal. Farmers regard it as a problem plant, since it is toxic if ingested and causes a potentially deadly form of ascites known as waterpens (water belly) in grazing livestock. The Khoi-San, however, used it to treat dermatitis, fungal growths, inflammation