Sutherlandia frutescens (syn. Lessertia frutescens), known as cancer bush is a much-respected and long-used medicinal plant that is also an attractive garden plant, and has been cultivated in gardens for many years, for its fine form, striking colour and luminous flowers.
Sutherlandia is an attractive small, soft wooded shrublet, 0.5 to 1 m in height. The leaflets are 4-10 mm long, grey-green in colour, giving the bush a silvery appearance. They have a very bitter taste.
The flowers of Sutherlandia frutescens are orange-red, up to 35 mm long. This plant is one of the most talked about in the ethnobotanical world because it has a strong reputation as a cure for cancer and now increasingly as an immune booster in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.