Hilliardiella aristata (DC.) H.Rob.
Common names: silver vernonia (E), ihlambihloshana, isibhaha sasenkangala, umlahlankosi-omhlophe, ileleva (Z)
Beautiful silky silver leaves and dark mauve-purple flowers in early summer, Hilliardiella aristata is an eye-catching plant for the sunny garden.
An upright herbaceous perennial covered in silvery silky hairs. It is dormant during winter, sending out annual stems from woody perennial rootstock every spring, growing 0.1 - 1.5 m tall. Leaves are simple, have no stalk and are covered with silver hairs.
The flat, mauve to purple inflorescence is made up of many branched flowerheads. Silver-white buds open to frilly dark mauve to purple flowers - look closely to see that the flowers that make up each flowerhead are all disc-florets with no ray-florets, and each tiny floret has pointed petals that add to the overall frilly effect. Purple stigmas stick out above the florets adding to the tousled look. It flowers during mid-summer (Nov-Dec) at Kirstenbosch and in spring to mid summer (Aug-Dec) in its natural habitat.
By January the flowerheads have turned into fluffy silver-white seedheads. The seeds are very light in weight and have a pappus of silver-white hairs.
Distribution and habitat
Hilliardiella aristata is seen growing in clumps, sometimes in colonies, among rocks and on open grassy slopes from 5 up to 2200 m, widespread in the Eastern Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West and Swaziland and in Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Derivation of name and historical aspects
The plant was previously known as Vernonia natalensis. The new name honours Dr Olive May Hilliard who studied Asteraceae in KwaZulu-Natal. There are 8 species in the genus.
Butterflies, beetles and bees are seen visiting Hilliardiella aristata flowers at Kirstenbosch. The feather light seeds with their hairy parachutes are dispersed by the wind.
Hilliardiella aristata is used in traditional medicine to treat coughs, malaria and other feverish conditions, headache, 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) 200