Nature has a way of surprising us, and the devil’s claw plant is a prime example. This uniquely shaped and named plant, with its spikiness, seems almost designed to grab our attention. However, beneath its unusual exterior lies a potential powerhouse of natural remedies used for generations in traditional medicine, and it is still gaining traction for its health properties.
Takalani Harding, a plant pathologist based in Centurion in Gauteng, explains that devil’s claw got its name system because of the tiny hooks it has that cover the fruit.
“It is indigenous to the deserts of the Kalahari, South Africa, and Namibia. In South Africa, it is mostly found in the Northern Cape, North West, and Limpopo provinces.”
Plant pathologist Takalani Harding
Busting pain and fever
Harding says the common medical uses for devil’s claw are for wound treatment, arthritis pain relief, wearing-off repair of skin, inflammation, and tablet conversion.
“The devil’s claw contains a lot of health and healing benefits, which are not limited to providing pain relief, treating malaria, reducing the pain of arthritis, treating fever, assisting with kidney and liver problems, killing heartburn, and being used as skin lotion.”
He says, “The devil’s claw serves as a weedy, turbeous plant with conspicuous fruits. Scientifically, it is called Harpagophytum procumbens, and it falls under the Pedaliaceae family.”
Take care if you have health conditions
Devil’s claw has potential side effects, especially for people with specific health conditions and those taking certain medications, Harding warns.
“Heart and high-blood-pressure individuals may be negatively affected by this plant. It can also cause severe diarrhoea, leading to vomiting and headaches, and affect filtration, secretion, and absorption processes in the body; thus, it is advised to always consult a health professional before usage.”
Joseph Matlou from Pretoria, who discovered the devil’s claw while looking for plants that assist with the vividness of dreams, says it has had additional health benefits beyond what he was expecting.
“As much as I’ve been using the devil’s claw for spiritual or dream purposes, health-wise, it has helped me deal with headaches.
“I have suffered a great deal of headaches. The number of headaches I’ve been getting has decreased, and when I do have them, they are mild, and I’m able to deal with them. It has also helped me deal with inflammation.”
Joseph Matlou
“I consume it as a tea, but I have reduced the dosage because I overindulged and it caused nausea, which led to vomiting when I used it more than four times a week. In the beginning, since I was just exploring it, I didn’t know which amount of the devil’s claw was good for me, so I used a lot of it and didn’t take a break.
“I was obsessed with it because I got benefits from it. So one must find the right dosage for them since our bodies are unique,” says Matlou.
According to Gauteng-based horticulturist Yenziwe Shembe, devil’s claw is indigenous to the sandy Kalahari regions of Southern Africa, as its optimal growing environment includes sandy or rocky soils and dry (arid/low rainfall) hot climates.
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Illegal to harvest devil’s claw
“The plant grows best in well-drained, deep, red, light sandy, rocky soils in full sun. It grows well in soils along roadsides and on waste grounds, particularly in spaces with little or no competition from the natural vegetation,” Shembe says.
“Patience may be a challenge some may find in cultivating devil’s claw. You have to wait for it to grow for four or more years before you can start harvesting it. Because the seeds have to be planted quite shallowly in the soil (within the top 10cm of soil, then covered lightly with soil if scattered or wildly seeded), birds may become a problem by eating the freshly sown seeds.
“Planting and establishing this plant can be quite challenging. Growing and harvesting it requires a significant amount of gardening skill.”
She also points out that devil’s claw is a protected plant in all three countries where it grows (South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia). “This means that it is illegal to dig it up or harvest it, even one plant, without a permit from the various departments of nature conservation.”
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