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Easily propagated, great

                                                                                      news for budget gardeners.


























                                                                                      more interesting facts:
                                                                                      •  Spekboom plants are said to be
                                                                                       able to live around 200 years and
                                                                                       can grow up to five metres tall.
                                                                                      •  The taste of the leaves can
                                                                                       change depending on the time
                                                                                       of day as the sun rises and sets.
                                                                                      •  The creators of The Great
                                                                                       Labyrinth of Africa in klapmuts
                                                                                       aim to create a spekboom
                                                                                       plantation so large that it can
                                                                                       be seen from outer space.
                                                                                      •  A man with the name
                                                                                       Abraham Enzo van Vuuren, an
                      A powerful tool in the fight against climate change              environmental activist who
                          and the move towards a zero-carbon world.                    cycles all over the country to
                                                                                       raise environmental awareness,
                                                                                       carries a baby spekboom in
             stick it in the ground. Give it a little   of the air we breathe at an astonishing   a vial around his neck.
             water* every few days and you’ll   rate. It has been established that this   •  Spekboom plants are very easy-
             soon have a new spekboom plant     superior succulent can absorb between   to-grow plants. They enjoy plenty
             of your own. (*Make sure you don’t   four to ten tonnes of carbon per hectare   of sunlight and can thrive equally
             give it too much water or it will rot.)  to make plant tissue and produce   as a bonsai tree, in a pretty pot,
                                                oxygen, even after the sun sets. The   or in the ground as a hedge.
             The REAL deal about                plant stores solar energy to perform   •  With all its amazing medicinal
             spekboom                           photosynthesis at night, making a      properties, one wonders if there
             All items listed here are fantastic reasons   spekboom thicket ten times more   shouldn’t be some research
             to love this plant, but the main reason   effective at carbon fixing per hectare   into the spekboom plant in the
             why the spekboom is heralded as    than a tropical rainforest! Excess carbon   global challenge of finding a cure
             south Africa’s miracle plant, enjoying   in the atmosphere is responsible for   or a therapy for the COVID-19
             unprecedented plant popularity in the   global warming, so the more carbon we   virus! some food for thought.
             press and on social media, is its ability   can remove from the air and return to
             to remove carbon dioxide from the   the ground, the better. If you put this   source: Garden & Home, with input from
                                                                                       Michelle Burger
             atmosphere and improve the quality   into perspective, it is truly amazing.

                                                                                                   Waterfall Issue 7   2020  27
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