Legends about the boomslang are legion, no doubt inspired in large part by its large black eyes, its leaf-green colour that camouflages it in foliage and its slow-working but deadly poison.
The species was in the news this week after well-known birder Geoff Lockwood was bitten by one at Talamati bushveld camp near Kruger Park's Orpen Gate.
"I'll have an image forever embedded in my mind of the snake attached to the front of his shin, just above his ankle," said a fellow birder.
Lockwood, author of Garden Birds of Southern Africa and one of the country's foremost bird guides, is being treated in the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg.
It was his knowledge of the snake and the effect and treatment of its bite was what made him decide to travel the 500km back to Johannesburg rather than get to a hospital in the region.
He would have known that, because of its short shelf life, boomslang serum was unlikely to be available at local hospitals.
Dr Joos Scheepers, a former superintendent of Rob Ferreira Hospital in Nelspruit and now a general practitioner at Hoedspruit, said Lockwood did the right thing. Serum was available in the area for other snakes, but not for the boomslang, he said.
It can take up to 48 hours and longer for the boomslang's poison to take effect in the form of progressive bleeding, leaving the victim fair time to get to a hospital.
The trick with snake bite and with the boomslang, especially, is to identify the snake properly.
"One hesitates to encourage people to catch or kill the snake and bring it with them as they could get bitten more times in doing so but correct identification is the surest and quickest way of getting the right treatment," said Scheepers.
Lockwood apparently had his doubts because the snake had not been in a tree but on the ground and had bitten Lockwood on the ankle.
But boomslang bite was confirmed when his arm was pricked and the blood flowed without coagulating. As the hospital had been notified in advance to expect him, the serum that had been obtained in the meantime was administered.
Boomslang bites happen rarely, but some legends reach well into the ludicrous. One such is that it dangles from tree branches and, when people pass underneath, it bites them on the head.
Although mostly green, the snake can vary considerably in colour to almost black. It is thin and can grow to slightly more than a metre long. It keeps mostly in trees where it hunts birds and small reptiles such as chameleons but, as shown in Lockwood's case, it also gets down on the ground.
One fallacy is that the snake's fangs are set so far back in its small mouth that it struggles to get a grip on most parts of the body and is able to inflict a bite only on a finger or ear. It was pointed out that it can open its mouth to about 180 degrees and is able to bite just about anywhere.
A snake handler in Cape Town wrote: "The boomslang has a very effective venom delivery system and a rather large set of fangs for its size. Even though it is rear-fanged, it can deliver a fair amount of venom without chewing.
"The misconception that rear-fanged snakes cannot deliver venom effectively could not be further from the truth in the case of the boomslang,"
But, contrary to a web article that describes the snake as "one deadly animal because of its preference for aerial positioning in tree top and shrub cover" and which "strikes without giving any warning signal", the boomslang is not aggressive.
The snake handler, who says he often gets called upon to remove the snake from gardens, wrote: "In my experience, boomslang are shy and elusive and extremely reluctant to bite."
Ben de Boer, of BirdLife South Africa's avitourism division and manager of its Greater Limpopo Birding Route, says that, in old snake books, boomslang were classified as non-venomous, with photos of people holding big snakes.
"I have had many dealings with boomslang while removing them from houses and lodges and they have never attempted to bite, even when being held by snake tongs or being herded in a specific direction with long sticks. All they ever try to do is get away from you.
"We need to be clear that this was a very extraordinary event and not have people running around killing every boomslang they see, or becoming paranoid about snakes. I am sure Geoff would be the first to agree with this.
"We spent a long time together the evening before he was bitten admiring the very same snake. They are amazing animals that deserve to be in the environment and need to be respected."
De Boer says the serum is produced by South African Vaccine Producers, which used to be part of the South African Institute for Medical Research. They make a generic anti-venom for the neurotoxic snakes and a specific one for boomslang, spiders and scorpions.