Plants

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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