5 Notobubon galbanum Seeds - Blister Bush - South African Indigenous Medicinal Shrub - Herb

Notobubon galbanum Seeds

Blister Bush; Bergseldery, Wilde Seldery, Droëdas

Notobubon galbanum is an evergreen shrub, renowned for causing severe blistering of human skin when touched. It is also well known as a Cape medicinal plant. Notobubon galbanum is a woody evergreen shrub, up to 2.5 m high. Leaves arranged along the upper parts of the branches, compound; leaflets ± rhomboidal, toothed and sometimes 3-lobed, green above and glaucous below. Flowers small, yellow, borne in large, rounded compound umbels on a relatively short peduncle. Fruit dry, dorsally flattened with narrow wings along the margins. Notobubon galbanum is a well-known Cape medicinal plant whose ethnobotanical uses have been well documented (Dykman 1891; Kling 1923; Marloth 1925; Pappe 1857; Rood 1994; Van Wyk et al. 1997; Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk 1962). It has been recorded primarily as a remedy for rheumatism, gout, bladder ailments, water retention and high blood pressure. Pappe (1857), a medical doctor interested in plants, recorded wilde seldery as being reputed amongst the inhabitants as an excellent diuretic, while Dykman (1891), in her South African recipe book, recommends a brandy tincture of the leaves for treating obesity in men. Watt & Breyer-Brandwijk (1962) record that it is also used as a diuretic, in combination with Diosma hirsuta L. for dropsy and renal diseases, or with Mentha longifolia Huds. and Pelargonium grossularioides (L.) L'Hér. for suppression of the menses. Van Wyk et al. (1997) add that an infusion together with Chironia spp. is used as a remedy against rheumatism.