| Name |
Description |
Use |
Source |
Picture |
|
Poison Grub Tree
Sand Corkwood
Hairy Corkwood
Marula Tree
|
|
A preferred source was the parasite larva of a beetle that feeds on the aptly named Poison grub tree. Coating one arrowhead required 8-10 grubs. There was no known antidote to this poison and it would kill a large animal within 20 hours. To protect the poison tips and presumably the hunter, the top of the quiver was plugged with bolls of so-called "wild cotton". |
|
|
|
Brandy Bush
Grewia Flava
|
|
The metre-long bow had been made from the flexible bough of a Brandy bush and strung with the back leg sinews of an eland. This bush, our first stop along the path, apparently also provided fibres for binding shelters and an excellent toothbrush could be fashioned from the chewed ends of its smaller branches. |
|
|
|
Sickle Bush
Dichrostachys cinerea
|
|
Those suffering toothache could get relief by chewing the leaves of the ubiquitous Sickle bush. Sometimes called the Kalahari Christmas tree because of its pink and yellow upside-down candle flowers, this was a Bushman dispensary. They chewed its leaves to relieve headaches and to create a poultice to kill the pain of scorpion stings. Chest pains were treated by inhaling the smoke from burning dried leaves.
|
|
|
|
Bi-bulb
Raphionacme burkei
|
|
Shavings of the bulb's fibrous white flesh, when rolled and squeezed, produced a slightly milky water. The liquid content, not as high as that of the well-known Tsama melon (a prime source of water for Bushmen inhabiting the drier parts of the Kalahari), was nevertheless a lifesaver. |
|
|
| Tsama melon |
|
food |
|
|
|
Taaibos
Rhus sp.
|
small, shady bush |
|
|
|
|
purple Pod terminalia tree
Terminalia prunioides
|
|
sources of an edible gum |
|
|
|
common Commiphora bush
Commiphora pyracanthoides
|
|
sources of an edible gum |
|
|
|
Shepherd's tree
Boscia albitrunca
|
stocky, stiffly branched little "tree of life" |
provides sustenance to both people and animals |
|
|
| Lavender croton |
|
When dried and powdered, its leaves made a pleasantly aromatic perfume. |
|
|
|
raisin bush
|
|
Its springy branches were used, together with a twined grass noose, in demonstrating the setting of a trap for small birds. |
|
|
|
Bushman grass
Stipagrostis sp
|
|
Covering hut |
|
|
|
Sandpaper raisin
Grewia flavescens
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mongongo Nuts
Schinziophyton rautanenii
|
|
food |
|
|
| Baobab |
|
food |
|
|
| Vegetable Ivory palm |
|
food |
|
|
| Marula nut |
|
food |
|
|
| Wild orange |
|
food |
|
|
|
Morethlwa and Mokomphata
Grewia
|
|
food |
|
|
| Wild mango |
|
food |
|
|
| Sour plum |
|
food |
|
|
| !tan root |
|
food |
|
|
| !xwa water root |
|
food |
|
|
| sha root |
|
food |
|
|
| Tsin bean |
|
food |
|
|
|
dcha melon, bitter melon
Acanthosicyos naudinianus
|
|
food |
|
|
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