Zygophyllum foetidum

Zygophyllum foetidum is a scandent shrub that sprawls when no trees or shrubs are available for support. The plant is a vigorous grower that may exceed 2 m in height and width.

Among its common names there are scrambling twinleaf, skilpadkos (tortoise food) and slymbos (slime bush, referring to the plants succulence) in Afrikaans. Other colloquial names relate to the foetid smell of the crushed leaves, including jakkalspisbos (jackal urine bush).

The distribution lies in a broad band along the coast from Namibia, the Northern Cape and Western Cape to the Eastern Cape.

The habitat is bush and scrub, often near water. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; http://redlist.sanbi.org).