African Wildlife & Environment Issue 79

GARDENING FOR BIODIVERSITY

These caterpillars will also feed on several other indigenous plants such as Ekebergia capensis and Trema orientalis . (Photographs: S Woodhall.)

gardens.Their showy flowers proved very popular with gardeners and nurserymen, and they were distributed to private and botanical gardens across the world. Unfortunately, in many countries to which they were introduced, they escaped from gardens, becoming noxious weeds. In South Africa, this horrific plant is classified as an alien invasive species and failure to remove it from your property is, in fact, a criminal offence. First recorded in this country in 1858, L. camara is a compact, bushy shrub or untidy scrambler with leaves that have a strong, characteristic smell when crushed. The flowers, which are usually shades of pink or orange, are borne in clusters, often comprising flowers of several different colours. They are followed by fruits that become purple-black when ripe. The nectar-rich flowers are attractive to insects, including butterflies, but to tolerate it for this reason is like pardoning a serial killer on account of a charming smile! So aggressive is this invader that it can smother and kill fully-grown trees.

Impenetrable thickets form within a short time at the expense of indigenous vegetation. Infestations in plantations severely hamper management operations and can place a financial burden on this sector of the economy. This devil’s plant is poisonous to humans and domestic animals. People, particularly children, are known to have died after eating the fruit, and cattle have eaten the foliage with fatal results. However, L. camara should not be confused with the indigenous, harmless L. rugosa (Bird’s Brandy) which, in its own country, is unfortunately seen much less frequently than the invasive alien species. The local citizen is a very much smaller, delicate, aromatic little shrub, with pink to light purple flowers and purple, edible fruit. Because the wood of H. lucida is hard and heavy it has been used, in some areas in the past, for spear shafts and to start fires by friction. Cattle enclosures have also often been constructed from it, as it is not readily attacked by termites. Traditionally the plant has been used

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