Leucospermum cordifolium

The pincushion or nodding pincushion, as Leucospermum cordifolium is commonly known, occupies a position of favour in the minds of many fynbos lovers. The plant is a rounded and spreading shrub bearing drooping branches, reaching heights around 1,5 m and width around 2 m. Growing from a single stem, it is a reseeder. The plants last about 20 years in nature.

Both delicate in the curvature of the multitude of styles in each flowerhead and robust in the spreading branches, it catches the eye. The common orange and yellow flower colours vary somewhat, with occasional salmon, apricot or pinkish variations. And so does the flowering season vary, depending on the climate of the specific area, or the weather of a specific year. Bloomtime is generally taken to commence late in winter to after midsummer.

The species distribution is in a small southwesterly part of the Western Cape, from the Kogelberg to Bredasdorp.

The habitat is lower slopes of rocky mountains, covered in fynbos in sandstone and shale soils. The habitat population is deemed near threatened early in the twenty first century, due to agriculture, alien plant invasion and habitat loss caused by other human impact. An aggravating factor is the plant's great popularity in horticulture. Planted cultivars in too close proximity interact genetically with plants in nature, contaminating the gene pool.

Cut flowers of this pincushion last particularly well. Even purists that normally refrain from removing flowers from the veld concede that the spring and early summer profusion allows for taking a few without detracting from the appearance of a mature shrub. Best taken from the garden (Manning, 2007; Rebelo, 1995; Eliovson, 1967; iNaturalist; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).