Leucadendron tinctum

Leucadendron tinctum has some striking common names: spicy conebush, rose cockade and in Afrikaans toffie-appel (toffee apple). One can expect flamboyant naming for plants with highly noticeable or spectacular flowers. The single-stemmed shrubs become 1,3 m tall.

The female plant depicted here grew this interesting reddish flower bud of which only the oily scales can be seen at this stage. They are surrounded by the colour transformed involucral leaves commonly found around flowers of this and some other Leucadendron species. Some damage is visible on the leaves, probably from insects eating them. The normal (other) leaves on the plant are grey-green, barely visible in the picture below the coloured ones.

Leaves are broad, oblong to elliptical, hairless with noticeable reddish glandular tips. On the male plants the leaves are sometimes more yellowish, compared to the grey-green ones on the female plant. The shrub is much branched from its single stem and appears bushy when well grown.

The species distribution in the Western Cape, particularly the southern Cape, restricted to certain mountain ranges, mainly the Hex River, Hottentots Holland and Langeberg Mountains east of Sir Lowry’s Pass. 

The habitat is sandstone and shale fynbos slopes. The future of this species has been reassessed, its prospects taking a turn for the worse: The species is considered near threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century, due to forecasts of increased drought in its distribution range (Manning, 2007; Eliovson, 1973; www.plantzafrica.com; www.redlist.sanbi.org).