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Share our excitment for the plant world and read about the Fevertree,the tree that inspired our name.
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Article Summary:
- The Fevertree (Acacia
xanthophloea) grows in areas where the Anopheles mosquito, barer of
malaria, thrives.
- The Zulu people, who migrated into Maputaland, the home of the
Thembe-Tonga people and the Fevertree, called the tree umKhanya-kude, which
means in Zulu, “to shine from afarâ€.
- The Zulu people believe it to be a powerful medicinal plant used
in days gone by, by hopeful young men, going to seek work in the gold mines of
Johannesburg by rubbing
the green powder from the bark on their faces.
- Fevertree Trading has chosen this tree as our symbol, and its
name, umKhanya-kude, to shine from afar,
as our logo and our vision. Share our vision at Fevertree, and shine
from afar.
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It is said that the first time the Voortrekkers (the Afrikaans
pioneers) saw the acid-green shine of Acacia xanthophloea, they named
it the Fevertree, believing that it was the tree that caused the
dreaded fever, malaria. True, the Fevertree grows in areas where the
Anopheles mosquito, barer of malaria, thrives.
Fortunately, before they achieved the extinction of this noble tree,
they discovered that the tree itself was not responsible for the
disease, rather it was the hot tropical areas they ventured into, where
the carrier mosquito could thrive.
The Zulu, who migrated into Maputaland, the home of the Thembe-Tonga people and the Fevertree, call it umKhanya-kude, which means in Zulu, "to shine from afar". This is a perfect description of the tree as you see it against its native backdrop of the floodplains of rivers flowing across the Makhathini Flats towards Mozambique and the Indian Ocean. The backdrop of dense, dark trees of the sand forests are broken at intervals with the brilliant, shining neon green of the tall umKhanya-kude trees.
The Zulu people believe it to be a powerful medicinal plant used in days gone by, by hopeful young men, going to seek work in the gold mines of Johannesburg. They took the dusty green powder, which is given off by the shiny, smooth bark of the Fevertree, and rubbed it over their faces and arms until their they glittered with a greenish, otherworldly glow. This made them stand out from the crowd of people in the employment line, and thus easily chosen from the many for the few jobs available. The tree made them shine from afar. umKhanya-kude, just like the tree itself.
Fevertree Trading has chosen this tree as our symbol, and its name, umKhanya-kude, to shine from afar, as our logo and our vision. We believe that we are the inheritors and stewards of one of the largest bio-diversities on our planet, and we aim to proudly shine from our small, sub-Saharan part of the African continent. Supplying the world with knowledge, information and products promoting wellness to the people of the earth, job opportunities for impoverished and emerging growers and caretakers of the plants, and protection to the great and often endangered plant species growing in Southern Africa. Share our vision at Fevertree, and shine from afar.
Click here to read more about African plants and herbs
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