When the grass burns in winter veld fires, as happens too often these days, the stamvrug among the rocks often survive, sometimes with little damage. Growing closely aligned to one of the elaborate sandstone or quartzite rocks does help. 

Those that walk past a stamvrug in season will stop to check for ripe fruits. The baboons are often the first though, taking them earlier than people do. Where enough of these trees or shrubs grow in an area, people may harvest the fruit for making jam, jelly, syrup or wine. Roots are sometimes dug up for medicinal use, not an easy task among the rocks (Van Wyk and Van Wyk, 1997).