Buddleja salviifolia, Quilted Sagewood, Saliehoud

Greetings to all our Village plant enthusiasts. Welcome to this weeks’ “Weekly Plant of Interest”. We’ll be looking at a woody species that most of you will have already seen in the reserve and on several of the C.V.C. hiking trails.

Buddleja salviifolia or Quilted Sagewood (known as Saliehoud in Afrikaans or Lelothoane in Sisotho), is a small tree of 3 – 8 m tall. It is usually found on forest margins, along rocky stream-banks and near cave sandstone overhangs.B. salviifolia can be found growing at altitudes of 1800-2435 m A.S.L. and its distribution ranges from the Western Cape through to East Africa.The twigs are roughly rectangular and woolly and the leaves are oppositely arranged. Leave dimensions are a maximum of 30-140mm and a minimum of 7-40mm. The leaves are soft and textured above and a velvety white beneath with a deeply lobed, stalkless base. The flowers of B. salviifolia are white – mauve and arranged in long dense spikes of 120 mm. They give of a subtle sweet scent and flower from August – October.

The Quilted Sagewood has several uses, these include:

Medicinal

The leaves are dried then crushed and boiled for several minutes and drank as an herbal tea. The roots are also used for medicinal purposes.

Fodder

The leaves are sometimes browsed by livestock and game.

War

The dark brown heartwood has often been used for assegai shafts as they are heavy and sturdy.

Fuel

The wooden stems and branches have often been used in fires for cooking.

Food

The heartwood makes for suitable fishing rods.