adache, pains in the loins and pain in the kidneys, and to bathe haemorrhoids. It is an ingredient in medicines known as isihlambezo that are prescribed for pregnant women and taken during pregnancy to ensure a healthy mother and baby. A mixture of leaves and roots is sometimes used by the Venda to induce abortion, a treatment that has occasionally also killed the mother.
The leaves and roots are used as charms against lightning and in Zimbabwe the leaves are burned and inhaled to drive away evil spirits.
Many other vernonias are used medicinally or to make tea and three species are used as poisons in Africa : V. hildebrandii, V. macrocyanus ( Angola ) and V. wakefieldii ( Tanzania ).
Growing Hilliardiella aristata
Hilliardiella aristata requires fertile well-drained soil, plenty of water in summer and a sunny situation. It is dormant during winter and is frost hardy but in very cold climates it should be protected with a generous mulch of straw or hessian. If not cut down by frost, prune hard in winter and it will shoot strongly again in the spring or early summer.
Plant the silver vernonia in clumps in the herbaceous border, in the rockery or in containers. Use its striking silver leaves to create contrast. When not in flower its foliage is very decorative and it is extremely attractive when dotted with purple flowerheads in midsummer.
Propagate by seed or cuttings. Seed is best sown in spring-early summer. Hilliardiella aristata roots quickly and easily from tip cuttings taken from the new growth in spring or early summer. Treated with rooting hormone and placed in a standard mist unit, cuttings root in roughly 2 weeks.
- Hutchings, Anne 1996 Zulu Medicinal Plants, an inventory. University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg
- Jackson, W.P.U. 1990 Origins and Meanings of Names of South African Plant Genera. U.C.T. Printing Dept., Cape Town.
- Pooley, E. 2003 Mountain Flowers, A Field Guide to the Flora of the Drakensberg and Lesotho. The Flora Publications Trust, Durban.
- Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds) 2003 Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria
- Germishuizen, G. 1997 Wild Flowers of Northern South Africa. Fernwood Press, Cape Town.
- Robinson, H. 1999. Revisions in paleotropical Vernonieae (Asteraceae). Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 112:220–247.
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
Plant Type: Perennial
SA Distribution: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West
Flowering season: Spring, Early Summer
Flower colour: Purple, Mauve/Lilac
Aspect: Full Sun
Gardening skill: Average