Hoodia gordonii Information

NEW ! Fresh Hoodia gordonii at a give away price !

2009-04-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

Fresh Hoodia gordonii available at ZAR 8.00 per kg (approximately $ 0.95 ) !! ... Read on

CITES and phyto sanitary certificates available on request. Izimakana Industries is a registered Hoodia grower. We use no fertilizers, pesticides or any other chemicals. Just pure naturally grown Hoodia gordonii. Large adult plants at the lowest price.

Also available: Dried Hoodia gordonii chips and powder.

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Welcome to Our Information Pages of Hoodia gordonii

Izimakana Industries is a medium sized industry concentrating on growing various indigenous succulents plants including Hoodia gordonii. We have been actively involved in the export of Hoodia gordonii raw material to the USA since 2003.

Early in 2008 we decided to market our own Hoodia gordonii product. The reason for this was essentially to provide a product containing quality Hoodia gordonii selling at an affordable price. We cut out the middleman and sell directly to wholesalers and retailers. Our product is available for export to distributors worldwide.

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We make these information pages available to you give a general overview of Hoodia gordonii. Much of this information is unique to our site only.

What is Hoodia gordonii ?

The Koi-San and Hoodia gordonii

Our Cultivated Hoodia gordonii.

Hoodia gordonii flowers

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The color of the flowers vary from shades of pink to yellowish. There are only a few locations recorded in Namibia where the flowers have a crimson color. Some other Hoodia also produce reddish flowers e.g. Hoodia macrantha as well as a couple of hybrids. Some nurseries claiming to grow Hoodia gordonii have plants that consistently produce red/crimson flowers. It would be interesting to know the origin of these plants.

Two photographs showing the most common color variation in Hoodia gordonii flowers.

There is great variation in the size of the flowers within the same locality and some flowers are almost round while others still have a semi five lobed appearance.

Hoodia gordonii have no specific flowering time. Individual plants flower at different times of the year. Most plants flower in spring and autumn. Some flower in midsummer and occasionally there are plants that flower in winter.

The flowers are pollinated by flies. The flowers have an evil smell, resembling rotting meat, that attract the flies.

Here are some more pictures illustrating the variation in the flowers of Hoodia gordonii.

The pictures were taken at Leopoort, south of Oudtshoorn, where we have some juvenile seed grown plants.

The flowers are essentially five lobed but often the lobes are joined together making the flowers appear anything between five lobed and round.

A five lobed flower.

A circular flower. There is a tendency for the perimeter of the flower lobes to bend backwards. This makes some flowers appear more round then what they really are. This particular flower was however almost completely round.

A rounded five lobed flower.

The average diameter of cultivated Hoodia gordonii flowers is probably some 70 mm to 80 mm. In our Hoodia patch at Leopoort the largest flower I found was 120 mm, and the smallest flower 40 mm in diameter.

The largest Hoodia gordonii flower at Leopoort, measuring 120 mm across !

The smallest flower with a diameter of only 45 mm.

How to keep your Hoodia gordonii product affordable

Culitivated Hoodia gordonii at Keurkloof

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Keurkloof is south of Oudtshoorn . Oudthoorn lies in the heart of the picturesque Little Karoo, one of the hottest places during the South African summer. This is only one of the areas where we cultivate Hoodia gordonii.

Hoodia gordonii under drip irrigation at Keurkloof.

Cultivation is done as naturally as possible. The drips are only used during the early stages of growth. After about 3 years the plants have to survive on natural rainfall. Cultivated plants are very prone to die when overwatered. Most plants here are over 5 years of age.

An adult plant of Hoodia gordonii. Plants this size have to survive on natural rainfall.

Plants flower profusely numerous times during the hot months.

No artificial fertilizer is added and no pecticides are used. Weeding is a constant task.

An adult plant full of seedpods.

Some plants are making seed while others are still flowering.

Affordable Kanna

Hoodia gordonii bulk supplies

The Khoi-San and Hoodia gordonii

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The original users of Hoodia gordonii were the Khoi-San tribes of southern Africa, or Bushmen as they are often referred to. They eat Hoodia species as a vegetable and to suppress hunger and thirst while out on long hunting expeditions

Many websites will state that in the Bushmen's language, Hoodia gordonii is known as "Ghaap".

Strictly speaking this is not entirely true.

The Bushmen do eat Hoodia gordonii,but refer to it rather as "Jakkals Ghaap". Translated as "Jackal Ghaap" meaning that the plants are fit to be eaten by jackal rather then humans. The likely reason being the bitter pungent taste of Hoodia gordonii. A jackal (a somewhat similar animal to the American coyote), will of course not touch a Hoodia, but it sort of illustrates the Bushmen's contempt for both.

An adult plant of Hoodia gordonii in the wild. This is quite an old plant and not expected to live much longer. Hoodia gordonii can grow to a height of approximately one meter. The plants have a limited life span however. and most plants will actually die before reaching this size. The picture was taken in the Tanqua karoo. Occasionally there exist relatively dense populations of about 100 plants per hectare. There are some more plants in the background of this picture. Mostly the plants are scattered far and wide.

The real "Ghaap", which they prefer to eat, refer to a number of Hoodia species that fall into the section Trichocaulon. (The section Trichocaulon was previously a genus on its own, but Peter Bruyns, the great authority on Stapelia-like plants, has recently included theTrichocaulons under the genus Hoodia. This has merit, but mostly the Trichocaulons are distinctive in appearance with smaller flowers.)

Unlike Hoodia gordonii, many Trichocaulons have a rather sweet taste.

An adult plant of Hoodia pilifera variety pilifera.This plant was previously known as Trichocaulon piliferum. It is native to the dry areas of the Southern Cape. Adult plants reach a height of approximately 30 cm or more. The adult plants are much smaller then Hoodia gordonii. Cultivation from seed is difficult, and the seedlings seem to be more prone to die then numerous other Hoodia we have grown. Hoodia pilifera is one of the first Hoodia discovered by white settlers in South Africa. It also has appetite suppressing properties.

Why then do the Bushmen eat Hoodia gordonii ? The reason is that Hoodia gordonii is far more common then any of its similar relatives. The Bushmen will rather eat Trichocaulons,... if they can find them.

Hoodia gordonii Survey Images

Hoodia Plant Information

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What is Hoodia gordonii ?

As well documented on many websites, it is a cactus like plant that grows in semi desert conditions in Southern Africa and has been eaten by the Bushmen partly to curb hunger and thirst during long hunting expeditions.

Is Hoodia gordonii a cactus ?

No, not even close. It is an interesting example of how plants that are botanically unrelated, can obtain a similar appearance to withstant similar weather conditions. Here are some examples of plants that have a similar appearance to cacti, but belong to totally different plant families:

A young plant of Hoodia gordonii in flower. Hoodia gordonii is native to Southern Africa.

An example of a true cactus. Trichocereus spachianus. This plant is native to Argentina

Euphorbia horrida from South Africa. Euphorbias belong to the spurge family. Many species and forms, including trees and shrubs belong to this family. Euphorbias are wide spread in many parts of the world.

CITES Plants