Solanum burchellii

Solanum burchellii, in Afrikaans known as the slangappel (snake apple), is a much-branched, spiny and notably hairy shrub reaching 50 cm in height.

Lets imagine that long ago there were a few memorable events when a motionless snake was spotted suddenly, resting in the shade of a S. burchellii bush. Maybe a widely shared story of fright or tragedy from only a single slangappel incident?

Or maybe the reflex association between snake and apple stirred an ancient recollection in the heart of a scantily clothed man or woman of the San or Nama tribe, somewhere in the arid Eden of the northwest?

Or trust the Boere to dream up names for things left, right and centre.

The species is distributed in the Northern Cape and North West, as well as north of the border in Namibia, maybe Botswana. The plants grow in arid conditions on rocky slopes of the Richtersveld, the Namaqua klipkoppe and red sand flats. S. burchellii is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

This plant resembles S. tomentosum that becomes bigger and has a wider distribution across the south of the country (Le Roux, et al, 2005; iNaturalist; http://solanaceaesource.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).