Buddleja saligna is a very hardy, evergreen, fast-growing, drought-resistant small tree or large shrub for a small indigenous garden in Gauteng – especially if you are aiming for creating a living landscape with high biodiversity. It grows up to 800 mm per year. (Wildflower Nursery)
In larger gardens, it is a quick screen plant, hedge or windbreak. It is useful as a pioneer tree for a new forest garden. It also makes a very good clipped hedge. It is evergreen, frost hardy and drought resistant and the masses of sweetly-honey-scented white flowers make a lovely spring and summer show. It will grow in most soils but added compost will improve performance. It may need cutting back after flowering to keep tidy. The false olive does not have an aggressive root system. (Wildflower Nursery)
Health benefits of Buddleja saligna (false olive, iGqeba-elimhlope, witolien)
It is a popular cough and cold remedy. Root scrapings are used as purgatives and root wine decoctions for anasarca (general swelling of the whole body that can occur when the tissues of the body retain too much fluid.
Other uses:
The wood is very fine-grained and was used to make small pieces of furniture. The straight branches were used to make fence posts. The false olive was used to make assegai handles. It also makes good fuelwood as it burns with intense heat. The large amounts of pollen and nectar it produces make it popular with bee farmers.
