Lobostemon fruticosus

Lobostemon fruticosus, in Afrikaans commonly douwurmbos (dew worm bush) or agdaegeneesbos (eight days healing bush), is a small, rounded, woody shrub growing 1 m tall. It is multistemmed and densely branched, hairy when young.

The specific name, fruticosus is derived from the Latin word frutex meaning bush or shrub and the word part -osus indicating abundance, full or marked development, referring to the shrub-like growth habit.

The alternate, elliptic leaves are covered in soft, silvery hairs. The leaf dimensions are 5 cm long and 1 cm wide.

The flowers are several shades of blue or pink, paler towards the corolla lobe tips. There is a rare white flowering form. The flower has a funnel-shape or trumpet-shape. Flowers are mostly longer than 15 mm, up to 25 mm and 15 mm in diameter. The stamens do not protrude beyond the corolla tips.

The flowers are borne from late autumn until about midspring.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape as far east as the Little Karoo and northwards to Namaqualand in the Northern Cape.

The habitat is dry fynbos and renosterveld in loamy soils. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

This plant is the most widely used among the medicinal agdaegeneesbosse (Manning, 2009; Bean and Johns, 2005; Van Wyk and Gericke, 2000; Andrew, 2017; http://redlist.sanbi.org).