Cape & Southern African Herbalism

Cape and Southern African herbalism draws on the deep ethnobotanical knowledge of the Khoi and San peoples — among the oldest continuously documented plant-knowledge traditions in the world — later blended with Cape Malay culinary-medicinal practice.

The tradition emerged in direct relationship with the Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest but most biodiverse of the world's floral kingdoms, giving rise to a pharmacopoeia built almost entirely from plants found nowhere else on Earth.

Buchu, rooibos, and honeybush — all traditional Cape plants — are now internationally recognized and commercially cultivated, while Khoi-San botanical knowledge (notably around plants like Hoodia) continues to draw both traditional use and modern research interest.