Overview

Serving as a versatile, medicinal herb since prehistoric times, Kanna is a succulent (water-retaining) plant endemic to South Africa still used to treat a wide variety of health conditions by rural peoples living in South Africa, Botstwana, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Kanna’s scientific name is Sceletium tortuosum (Latin for “something to chew”) and emerges in South Africa’s written history as early as 1660, when founder of Cape Town Jan van Riebeeck described Kanna’s use and effects on indigineous tribes.