Healing the Planet with Spekboom
- Osdam Eco Facility
- Jul 10
- 2 min read
Our Indigenous Greening Initiative
Osdam Eco Facility launched a Spekboom Planting Initiative aimed at restoring degraded land and promoting biodiversity through the power of indigenous vegetation.
This miracle plant fights climate change, restores soil, and thrives with minimal water. Let's green South Africa with indigenous power - plant a spekboom today!
The Impact
According to The Spekboom Foundation, the spekboom uses carbon to make plant tissue and produce oxygen. It stores solar energy to perform photosynthesis at night, making a spekboom thicket 10 times more effective per hectare at carbon fixing, than any tropical rainforest.
These plants will capture an estimated 2 - 5 tons of CO₂ annually, helping offset emissions from local waste activities.
The Spekboom Planting Initiative is improving soil stability, boosting local diversity, and creating a living greenbelt around our facility.
Did You Know?
Portulacaria afra, also known as elephant bush, porkbush, purslane tree, dwarf jade and spekboom is a small-leaved succulent plant found in South Africa. It is indigenous to the Eastern Cape and is seen by many as a miracle plant.
It is resistent to drought, flood and fire and can endure desert sun and heat once established.
In Southern Africa it is commonly eaten as a component of a salad or a soup, and is also fed to livestock during periods of drought due to its succulent nature.
In some rural areas, spekboom is used as a traditional treatment for skin conditions such as blisters, pimples, rashes, insect bites and sunburn.
Sucking a leaf can quench thirst, treat exhaustion, dehydration and heatstroke.
Chewing leaves can treat a sore throat and mouth infections.
In some areas, the dried stems are used in thatched rooves of huts.
Reach out to us to find out more or to get involved.
Tel. 064 518 7911