Buchu is a strong aromatic herb with an active ingredient called diosphenol. This is a potent antiseptic and diuretic, and has a warming and stimulating effect on the kidneys. It can be safely used by those wanting to lose weight.

The home-grown Cape herb with a very special oil

Buchu is a pungent herb and grows only on stony ground in the mountainous Western Cape regions. It was used traditionally as a medicine by the Khoi San people many years before colonisation by Europeans began. The Dutch Settlers at the Cape soon learnt the value of this herb, and it became included into their range of Dutch remedies still used today. The buchu leaf is a traditional household medicine in South Africa, usually as a brandy tincture or as a vinegar, known respectfully as buchu brandy and buchu vinegar. These preparations have a great reputation in diseases of the kidney and urinary tract and as a local application to bruises and for the relief for rheumatic pains as it has a slightly antiseptic effect. An infusion was taken to stimulate perspiration in rheumatism and gout and preparations of the leaf in cholera, bladder diseases (especially chronic catarrh), haematuria, calculus, urethra and prostate gland. Buchu is also known to assist in the treatment of gout, helping to reduce pain associated with inflammation. Buchu should never be boiled, as the volatile oil which contains much of the therapeutic value will effervesce, escape and thereby render it to a large inert medicinally. A cold tea of the herb increases the flow of urine. A warm tea soothes the nerves and causes heat in the tummy which gradually diffuses over the body.
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