The Pepperbark tree is one of the most effective and over utilized medicinal trees in Southern Africa, read about a unique encounter with this precious tree. 

Recently our family was invited for a few days visit to Rustlers Valley, tucked away between Fouriesburg and Ficksburg in an unimaginably beautiful part of South Africa's Freestate. Being the end of winter, we found a landscape of dryness with grand views of the mountain kingdom of Lesotho; it was an unlikely place for us to meet our first Pepperbark tree, face to face.

We hiked up the orange and pink sandstone cliffs, past glorious scenes on the rocks that seemed painted by God and once frequented by long gone Bushmen - a country of savannah grasslands, dotted with Klipdagga and Cabbage trees. Our hike ended at a rock formation called "Hole in the wall", a gigantic window to the next valley.

On our return, our hostess took us past the most glorious and magical house which almost out did the natural splendor around it.  An old, ruined sandstone farm house, its original roof long gone and replaced with transparent fiberglass, was the home of the most exquisite wild garden I think I have ever seen. The extraordinary thing about it was that the plants were growing inside the house. The kitchen was a riot of various chilies; creepers grew up the grand old arches of the sitting room. The enclosed veranda was home to a rare selection of succulents from around the world including a few special South African plants (we were delighted to discover some happily flowering Sceletium plants in the collection). In the midst of this green cacophony, growing in the light of the bay window, was an enormous healthy Pepperbark tree. (There were a few more in other parts of the house).

This tree is a rare in the wild and found in a few tropical places in the north east of South Africa (Zululand and Limpopo areas extending up to Mozambique). With many parts of the plant (primarily the bark) being used for traditional medicine, it has been heavily exploited driving it towards extinction.

A slender tree usually reaching 5 to 10 meters in height, formed mostly in evergreen forests and woody ravines[i] . It has rough brown bark and glossy green simple, lanceolate leaves with a pale undersurface and a slightly off centered mid-rib. The flowers are greenish white and the fruit, a black spherical berry, highly prized by monkeys.

The leaves and bark have a distinctively peppery taste, hence the name Pepperbark tree, but the scientific name (Warburgia salutaris) derives from the Latin word "salutary" or health giving.

As with many medicinal plants, traditionally it has many applications from treatment of the common cold to chest complaints, rheumatism, headaches toothaches and gastric ulcers[ii].  It is even used in some instances along with other plants in a decoction as an aid to divination[iii].

The Pepperbark's status is that it is now only found in protected areas but can be obtained in nurseries or propagated via cuttings, seedlings or from tissue culture.[iv] Pepperbark is now also farmed, although the leaves and stems are now primarily used to make herbal preparations rather than the life giving bark (this drastically extends the life of the tree).

Needless to say the responsible plant enthusiast stepped aside and the bio-pirate came out in me, and although the gardener with the magical green fingers (ethnobotanist and herpetologist  Dale Milliard) I hope he doesn't take issue with my webwide confession): I took three cuttings from the Pepperbark trees in his garden, all of which are to my absolute delight happlily growing in my sitting room. A beautiful tree that I hope never reaches the extinction list.