Eriocephalus africanus

Eriocephalus africanus, commonly known as wild rosemary and in Afrikaans as kapokbos (snow bush), as are many Eriocephalus species, is a small, single-stemmed shrub forming part of the Asteraceae family.

It has narrow leaves and presents a profusion of small white to pink flowers.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape, the Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape. The photo was taken southwest of Oudtshoorn on the Minwater farm.

The plants lowland habitat is arid or semi-arid and karoid. Neither of the two varieties, E. africanus var. africanus and var. paniculatus, is considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

This species yields a sought after essential oil and is a well-known medicinal plant with various applications. It is often browsed by game and stock (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).