Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
plantslatest news & developments
Researcher Samukelisiwe Msweli has identified plant species that are highly inflammable and those of which the flammability is low. Photo: Supplied

Which plants fuel wildfires – and how to protect your home

Fire is part of nature and has its uses but we need to learn how to live with it safely

Race to save the Richtersveld from mass extinction

Climate change, mine dust, drought and succulent poaching are causing centuries-old iconic plants to die

(Lucas Ledwaba)

This land is our chemist

A group of men harvest medicinal plants, which they then process and sell, but it’s a tough trade

An example of woody plant encroachment over Eagle-Siding in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. D Edwards (1954) and James Puttick (2010). (Images courtesy of rePhotoSA)

Woody plants on the march: Trees and shrubs are encroaching across Africa

Woody plants’ cover has increased across large swathes of the continent in the past three decades

Professor Keolebogile Shirley Motaung

Traditional innovation

Innovation Award: Corporate Organisation for innovations and their research and/or development by a team or an individual

(Reuters)

A case for daisies and kwerekwere

Colonisers. Aliens. Invasive. Cause damage. Threaten. The language of xenophobia is also applied to plants.

Kougoed is a legal alternative to marijuana.

Bushmen cure-all offers locals a sustainable income

The commercial potential of intoxicating kougoed, or Sceletium tortuosum, is reinvigorating a Nourivier community in the Northern Cape.

Scientists in China have identified a complex sugar in the Hoodia gordonii plant that is a suitable candidate for further studies into its potential weight-loss properties.

New study offsets toxic findings

Intellectual property fights aside, new research into the plant Hoodia gordonii highlights the dangers of misusing indigenous knowledge.

Gauteng Premier Nom­vula Mokonyane.

Plants ‘feel’ insect bites

When plants are exposed to the vibrations that chewing caterpillars make, they expel a fluid the attackers dislike.

Pompom weed threatens SA’s grasslands

The research council has found that the pompom weeds are a danger to the country’s indigenous plant species.

Giant smelly flower puts on sex show

It’s one of the world’s largest flowers, it stinks of rotting meat or rancid cheese and looks very much like a giant penis.

Super plant mops up CO2

Native bush could be a weapon against climate change, making South Africa a player in the international carbon credits market.