Paper presented at the IFEAT Int. Conference in Cape Town

time. The reasons for buchu oil’s inconsistencies, however, become much clearer when its initialhistory as a herbal remedy, and not a flavour and fragrance ingredient, is considered.The History of Buchu’s UseAs a medicinal herbBuchu has an ancient history as a natural herbal remedy in the San-Khoi healing culture. Traditionalceremonial and cosmetic uses of buchu as a body perfume in the form of dried crushed leaves mixedwith animal fats have been documented. It is not known which species were employed but, due to theirpleasant aromas compared to other species in the Agathosma genus, A. betulina and A. crenulata arelikely candidates.The modern history of buchu dates from the 17 th and 18 th centuries when the Khoikhoi introducedbuchu to the Dutch settlers in the Cape as a herbal remedy. Buchu’s purported medicinal uses causedits spread to Europe [10] and the first record of buchu export is by Reece & Co. who shipped driedbuchu leaves to England in 1821. By the late 19 th century large volumes of dried buchu plant materialwere exported to England and the USA; for example in 1873, imports were 153 tons by England and27 tons by the USA. Initially ‘buchu’ (of unspecified species) was mainly used in the form ofinfusions or tinctures and found widespread use as a natural health tonic for just about any afflictionthat affects mankind, including rheumatism, cholera, bladder diseases, stomach complaints, dropsy,dyspepsia, vesicle catarrh, cystitis, gout, PMS and hypertension [10] .Advert for buchu in the Franklin Gazette (USA), 1883105