Back to our Roots: Exploring the Origins Centre Indigenous Garden

The Origins Centre indigenous garden contains species from various environments around South Africa.

The exhibition at Origins Centre museum begins in the garden where we nurture a variety of South Africa indigenous plants. The plants have medicinal, ritual, recreational, edible, cosmetic and functional applications.

The Origins Centre garden was planted 2005.

After 15 years of growth, the indigenous gardens have flourished. Many visitors to the museum have learnt about the plants nestled in this garden, tried some delicious tea made from the lippia (fever tea) or used the aloe to treat a burn.

These beautiful Stapelias and Carion Cactus flowers trick your senses - they smell like rotting meat. The odour combined with the colour and hair on the flower mimic decaying animal matter and attract flies, who act as pollinators.    

Stapelia gigantea is also known as the African starfish

The fruits of the Ficus Sur or Broom Cluster Fig can be made into delicious jams. The wood is used traditionally as part of a fire-lighting kit and for making mortars, drums, brake blocks, and bed boards. The inner bark is used to make rope. The white latex from the live growth areas of the plant is used for treating lung and throat ailments.     

The wood of the Podocarpus falcatus or Yellowwood is used to make furniture and is highly sought after for boat-building, floorboards and roof beams. The bark is used for tanning leather and the sap is used to aid chest colds.  
In the ancient past, the resin of the tree was combined with other ingredients to glue arrow-heads to shafts for hunting weapons.  

The thorns of the Vachellia karroo or Soetdoring tree can grow up to 10 cm long. These thorns are useful for birds that nest in the trees as they offer protection from predators.

Set in the indigenous garden approaching the museum entrance, lies an enigmatic concrete sculpture by artist Marco Cianfanelli.

The sculpture commemorates Raymond Dart, who discovered the Taung skull, the remains of an early hominid child. The Taung child was the first early human fossil discovery to draw major attention to southern Africa as a place of origin of the human family tree.

Kalanchoe luciae has many descriptive names - Paddle plant, Desert Cabbage, Red Pancakes, Flapjacks. 
Although it is not edible as the names might suggest, it is beautiful. 

It is even a winner of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society!

Aloes have a long history of medicinal, cosmetic and cultural uses. The leaf sap or gel has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties and is commonly used to heal skin irritations, cuts, abrasions, burns or sunburn.  The aloe pulp can be used as a laxative, and to treat arthritis, conjunctivitis and sinusitis.

Aloes also have various culinary uses in the form of marmalade, jams, pickles and preserves.

Cyperus textilis or Sedge is a grass-like plant which along riverbanks and wetlands across South Africa. 

Many birds, such as weavers and finches, use sedges for building their nests. Large herbivores such as elephant and hippo graze on it.

The sedge successfully removes pollutants from water, including heavy metals, nitrogen and phosphates from purified sewage.

The sedge is widely used for weaving baskets and for making mats and twine. Sedges were used, as long as 77 000 years ago, to make bedding or mats.

At Origins we celebrate South Africa's diversity and indigenous cultures, languages and groups, and we aim to preserve and encourage indigenous knowledge systems. 

This embroidered panel is designed by Tamar Mason. A vine-like plant (inspired by Ncg'abe Taase) weaves around our children – our future.