BUSH TEA (ATHRIXIA PHYLICOIDES DC.) SUCCESS STORIES IN SOUTH AFRICA A REVIEW

Abstract

Wide range of new consumers in Africa could be provided new herbal teas with the recent regionalization and globalization of foods, beverages and natural products. It is evident that bush tea has a potential to be used commercially as a herbal beverage because it has been harvested for generations by rural communities as a tea, a medicine, as well as to make brooms. Surveys have shown that the consumption of bush tea is widespread and commercialization of the extracts holds economic and developmental potentials. Bush tea leaves contain 5 hydroxy-6, 7, 8, 3׳, 4׳, 5׳-hexamethoxyflavon-3-ol which is possibly responsible for bioactivity in the plants. There are also reports on the potential for development of bush tea as a healthy beverage alternative to caffeine-containing tea. This review puts together research conducted on different aspects of bush tea (Athrixia phylicoides) in South Africa, showing what is known about its potential as a herbal beverage, its other wide uses, and what further research may be needed  for commercialization.