Buchu is a fynbos species endemic to the Cape Floral Kingdom in the Western Cape of South Africa. As the plant only grows in this small geographic area and nowhere else in the world, it should come as no surprise that buchu is as valuable and rare as the environment it comes from.
The Cape Floral Kingdom is the smallest of six floral kingdoms worldwide and the only one that is entirely within the borders of one country. Owing to its extraordinary biodiversity – more than 9600 species can be found within an area of 90 000 km2 – it was added to the World Heritage list in 2004. It has also been identified as one of the world’s 35 biodiversity hotspots.
Compared to other, similarly sized ecological regions, the Cape Floral Kingdom is incredibly biodiverse. It represents less than 0.5% of the surface area of Africa, but is home to nearly 20% of the continent’s flora. The outstanding diversity and density of its flora are among the highest worldwide, and the region is more botanically diverse than the Amazon Rainforest.
What makes this level of biodiversity even more unique is the high rate of endemism. A plant species is endemic if it grows nowhere else in the world but one specific, geographic location. That is the case with about 70% of all fynbos species.
