Catha edulis - Khat - Bushmans Tea - Indigenous Medicinal Tree - 10 Seeds

This is a very attractive, small deciduous tree, with bright green leaves that turn to a pleasing yellowish colour in autumn. Its beauty is also complemented by its upright crown, and somewhat drooping branches, resembling a eucalypt from a distance. Bushman's tea is a shrub to small tree growing up to 10 m tall. The stem is usually straight and slender, with a narrow crown. The bark is light grey, becoming darker. It is rough and often cracked. The young stems are pinkish in colour. The leaves of this tree are opposite and are hanging. They have a leathery texture and are shiny bright green on the upper surface and paler beneath. The leaf margins are strongly serrated. Leaf stalks are short and pinkish in colour. Creamy-white to greenish minute flowers are borne in leaf axils in spring. They appear in clusters. In late October, the tree bears reddish brown, three-lobed capsules. They are 10 mm long and in late summer split to release the narrowly winged seeds. Khat is found in woodlands and on rocky outcrops. It is scattered in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, mostly from the mist belt, moving inland. It is also found in the Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, Mozambique and through to tropical Africa and the Arab countries. The generic name Catha is derived from the Arabic common name for this plant khat and the specific name edulis is a Greek word meaning 'edible'. It is derived from the leaves of this tree being used in teas by the Bushmen, as it contains a habit-forming stimulant. Bushman's tea is attractive in the garden. It can be planted in groups or in mixed beds where it gives height all year round and beauty in the autumn months. The plant is widely used against respiratory diseases. In tropical Africa and Arab countries it provides the habit-forming stimulant found in the leaves. The leaves are brewed as tea or chewed for this purpose. The effects include wakefulness and hyperexcitability, and suppressed hunger. In South Africa, this plant is regarded as a drug, since the drug cathinone, which is extracted from it, is listed in the Drug Act. It is however not widely used in this country, except by some groups of people from the Eastern Cape. The wood of Bushman's tea is also used for a number of purposes. It is hard and fine-grained, and therefore is good for firewood and furniture. The bark is also used as an insect repellent and the stem for fence poles.