Saltera sarcocolla commonly known as Saltera or Cape Fellwort in English or Vlieëbos in Afrikaans belongs to the Penaeaceae, which is a family confined to the fynbos region. Despite interesting variations in plant and flower size, groupings and colour, there is only one species in the genus Saltera. Saltera sarcocolla is a medium-sized, sturdy, upright shrub producing strong stems coppicing from a persistent, woody, underground root-stock. It has an open bushy habit growing up to 1.0 to 1.5m in height, although smaller forms also occur. There is a gum-resin, called sarcocolla, that was used in the days of ancient Greece and Rome, both medicinally and to make ink or paint. The gum-resin sarcocolla reputedly came from a tree also called sarcocolla and was imported from India, Turkey and Persia. It was supposed that the source of this gum was Penaea sarcocolla (as Saltera sarcocolla was first known) or P. mucronata, but this is not correct. The true source is Astragalus sarcocolla, a legume from south-west Asia.