Pollichia campestris

Pollichia campestris, commonly the barley sugar bush or waxberry and in Afrikaans teesuikerbossie (little tea sugar bush), is a branching to straggling, soft shrublet reaching heights from 20 cm to 80 cm. The branches are woolly when young.

The genus is monotypic, comprising only the one species.

The species distribution is widespread, the plant occurring in all nine South African provinces and further in Africa to Ethiopia and the Arabian Peninsula. The photo was taken in the Sanbona Wildlife Reserve in the west of the Little Karoo.

The habitat is highly variable, the plants found in lowland, arid, sandy or loamy soils, disturbed patches and under trees but not in fynbos. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century.

The plants are browsed by stock and game. It features in traditional medicine relating to the treatment of chest complaints and rheumatism (Van Rooyen and Van Rooyen, 2019; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Pooley, 1998; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).