The fever tree (Koorsboom in Afrikaans)(Acacia xanthophloea) grows mainly in depressions and shallow pans where underground water is present or surface water collects after summer rains. It is also found in low-lying swampy areas, along the margins of lakes and on river banks.
Early pioneers noticed that some of their parties contracted very bad fevers when or after they have camped near these trees. Due to this association, the tree was considered to be the cause and named “Fever Tree”.
What was not known at the time is that the places where fever trees grow are also ideal breeding grounds for malaria carrying mosquitoes, the real cause of the illness that befell them.
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