Hoodia Gordonii Cactus

Hoodia Gordonii is a succulent, not a cactus.

Hoodia Gordonii is a plant native to Southern Africa, being found most commonly in the Kalahari desert. It is a member of the succulent family, and is extremely hard to cultivate, taking years to mature.

The Hoodia Gordonii is a succulent (not a cactus) belonging to the Apocynaceae family. Hoodia is also known for its other south african name Xhoba.

Hoodia gordonii is just a variety of the Hoodia genus, and is the only one that contains a natural active ingredient, P57, which has only recently been identified. The P57 works as an appetite suppressant.

Basically, the hoodia plant grows wild and naturally in the harsh conditions of the 100,000 square miles Kalahari Desert of Southern Africa and although hoodia looks like a cactus it is categorized as a succulent.

The San people , native tribe of the Kalahari Desert, have used Hoodia Gordonii for centuries, possibly even for thousands of years. The San Tribe is one of the oldest living tribes in the world. They have successfully used Hoodia Gordonii as an appetite and thirst suppressant in times of hunger, or when they needed to travel long distances without eating.

The San people —known for their survival skills, rock art, trance-dancing and mystic symbiosis with their semi-desert or savannah environment—can trace their heritage back some 27,000 years on the basis of rock paintings drawn by their ancestors.