Leucospermum royenifolium

Leucospermum royenifolium, commonly known as the eastern pincushion, is a multistemmed, sprawling shrub that forms mats up to 3 m wide.

The elliptic leaves are sometimes softly hairy when young, scattered around the upper stems. They end in one, sometimes up to three glandular teeth.

There is a white-woolly young head of perianth buds in picture, beside the ageing flowerheads.

The species distribution is small in the east of the Western Cape from the northern side of the Outeniqua Mountains, the Kammanassie Mountains and the Swartberg Mountains to the west of the Eastern Cape as far as the Kouga Mountains and the Baviaanskloof. The photo was taken in the Swartberg Mountains.

The habitat is dry fynbos and renosterveld slopes. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).