Review of Prickly Pear – the Social History of a Plant in the Eastern Cape
- authors are William Beinart and Luvuyo Wotshela
(review for the Wits Alumna Review, 2013)

To some a delicate exotic fruit but to others an alien plant invader and a curse for the cattle farmer, the prickly pear or to give it its scientific name of Opuntia ficus-indica, is deserving of study and has been well served by the authors who write as environmental historians. Here is a new way of linking past and present through the study of the history and impact of a particular plant. It is a fascinating story of a useful cactus introduced into South Africa from Mexico via circuitous routes in the 18th century. This study crosses disciplinary boundaries as it draws upon history, social anthropology and botany to explain why policies towards invasive plants and their eradication should be rethought.

South Africans are familiar with the common prickly pear with its succulent pip filled inner fruit protected by the green fleshy cactus skin. It’s a wild plant which will readily spread if left unchecked and is to be found from the Western Cape to the Limpopo. It’s a fruit for jam making , a base for home made beer, a salad, or a potent farm distilled spirit, Witblitz . It is a plant whose usefulness is deeply imbedded in both Afrikaner and in Xhosa culture. Called Turksvy ( or Turkish fig) in Afrikaans and itolofiya yasendle emhlope (wild white prickly pear of the veld), its fascinating that both rural farming communities saw the value of a plant of the veld. En route from Grahamstown to Fort Beaufort and beyond, in season you can buy a bowl of ripe prickly pears for immediate enjoyment as a fresh fruit. Its was one of the pleasures of South African country travel in the past. You need to be skilled in using a sharp knife to split the skin and remove the inner fruit without allowing the fine hairy spines to touch your skin.

This study concentrates on the socio economic history of the prickly pear in the Eastern Cape and considers the ebb and flow of settlement, farming, rural power , scientific knowledge and the changing rural economy through the lens of a versatile cactus. The critical question underpinning the study is whether the prickly pear is a useful plant or a dangerous invader. A fascinating chapter is devoted to the economic benefits and income generated today by poor black families and especially women in harvesting and using the wild fruit. Another chapter relates the story of the very merry annual Uitenhage Prickly Pear Festival ( 1987 to 2005) . Bloemfontein has even hosted an international cactus pear conference. In the past the plant has been used as a fruit, a fodder in times of drought, as a hedging plant. It was used as an ingredient in soap making . It could be turned into a laxative medicine or a blood purifier.

This study explores the benefits of the plant and well as considering the economic and environmental costs through different eras. Following an energetic campaign to eradicate the wild opuntia in the 1930s and 1940s (surprisingly an estimated 2 million acres were covered by these wild plants in the 1930s), various opuntia species were declared weeds . It is actually illegal to nurture wild prickly pears though it would appear that the legislation is more honoured in the breech than in enforcement. There is a link between the plant and the cochineal insect and the prospects for a Cape-based natural dye industry are considered.

Global warming and a renewed study of alternative useful plants , biodiversity and plant transfers has rekindled interest in plants which can survive droughts. The prickly pear is now compared to fruits such as the dragon fruit (served to us as a tropical breakfast fruit in Vietnam) . The core argument of the book is that attitudes, practices and policies should be challenged and changed to encourage a balanced approach to access, controls, management, cultivation and use of the prickly pear for the commercial benefit of many rural inhabitants and communities. A variety of grainy black and white photographs and diagrams add visual interest but the book would have wider appeal if there were more coloured quality illustrations. This is an original and pioneering work and will join other books on my ecological/economy bookshelf , such as the works of Henry Hobhouse (Seeds of change and Seeds of Wealth) or Redcliffe Salaman book on the potato). ( )