The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Lessertia frutescens
Also called Cancerbush, Duckplant, Camphor Bush, Dead Man's Tree, Scarlet Balloon Pea, Turkey Flower, Cancer Bush
A small, short-lived, drought-tolerant shrub from dry southern Africa, grown for its red-orange spring flowers and inflated seed pods. Full sun and well-drained soil are the keys to success.
Lessertia frutescens (syn. Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R.Br.; Colutea frutescens L.) is a southern African legume in the family Fabaceae. It is also known as cancer bush, balloon pea, Cape bladder pea, sutherlandia; and phetola ("it changes") in seTswana, and insiswa ("the one that drives away the darkness") in isiZulu. It is a shrub with bitter, aromatic leaves, with red-orange flowers appearing in spring to mid-summer. These are followed by inflated, air-filled pods containing the seeds.
Seedlings may be vulnerable to damping off, but provided it is in well-drained soil, it grows readily and is not very vulnerable to pests.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lessertia frutescens by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
