Cancer bush

The Cancer Bush (Sutherlandia frutescens) is sometimes called the Turkey Flower and belongs to the subfamily Fabaceae. It grows in rocky, sandy areas of southern Namibia along the Orange River and the Fish River Canyon. The flowers are a bright orange-red and sweetpea-shaped and the pods are a pink-red, often browsed by livestock.

The common name is derived from the belief that it cured stomach problems and cancer. Traditional uses include curing colds, flu, chicken pox, asthma, diabetes, backache and rheumatism. Both the Nama and Khoi people used it to wash wound as well as drinking Cancer Bush mixtures to treat various ailments and fevers.

Flowering time is from July to December. They need lots of sunshine and water and are frost hardy. Sunbirds pollinate the flowers and the larvae of some species of butterfly feed on the leaves.