Lobostemon argenteus

Lobostemon argenteus, commonly sometimes the silver healthbush, is a resprouter shrub that reaches heights up to 1,5 m.

The stalkless, narrowly lance-shaped leaves are hairy along the rolled under margins and the midribs. The leaves become about 3 cm long and 1 cm wide.

The blue flowers grow in a spike, each subtended by a hairy bract. The flower is often reddish pink in its centre. Flowers become up to 2,5 cm long and 1,5 cm in diameter. The petal margins are hairy, also along the central vein on the outside surface. There are ridge-like staminal scales without lateral lobes. Flowering happens from before midwinter to summer.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape, the southwest of the Northern Cape and the west of the Eastern Cape.

The habitat is mainly renosterveld slopes in shale and clay soils. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2009; http://redlist.sanbi.org).