''Sutherlandia frutescens'' (cancer bush, balloon pea, sutherlandia, phetola ("it changes") in seTswana, and insiswa ("the one that drives away the darkness") in

isiZulu Zulu (), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 12 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal of ...

; syn. ''Colutea frutescens'' L., ''Lessertia frutescens'' (L.) Goldblatt & J.C.Manning) is a

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

legume A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock f ...

. It is a shrub with bitter, aromatic leaves. Red-orange flowers appear in spring to mid-summer.

Cultivation

''Sutherlandia frutescens'' is a small bush growing up to about high. It is native to dry parts of southern Africa, preferring full sun but tolerant of a wide variety of soil types. It is a tough plant, hardy, fast growing and drought tolerant but short lived. Seeds germinate readily in around two to three weeks and established plants self-seed readily. Seedlings may be vulnerable to

damping off Damping off (or damping-off) is a horticultural disease or condition, caused by several different pathogens that kill or weaken seeds or seedlings before or after they germinate. It is most prevalent in wet and cool conditions. Symptoms There ar ...

, but provided it is in well-drained soil, it grows readily and is not very vulnerable to pests.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q805318 Galegeae Flora of Africa Medicinal plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus