Aspalathus

Aspalathus is a genus of erect, spreading or prostrate shrubs and shrublets in the Fabaceae or pea family. Aspalathos was the name of a scented bush in ancient Greece.

The variable leaves are sessile or stalkless, often fascicled or clustered and simple or three-foliolate. The leaf or leaflet shape is flat, channelled or cylindrical and from needle-like to rounded. Leaf-tips are obtusely pointed or bear soft or spiny protrusions. No stipules are present, while some species have leaf hairs.

The flowers mostly grow in heads or racemes, sometimes in groups from one to three at stem-tips or from axils. The bracts or (smaller) bracteoles below the flowers are often leaf-like. The calyces are bell-shaped tubes ending in five nearly equal sepal lobes, the lowest sometimes the longest.

Flower colour is mostly yellow, although some species have white, lilac or pink ones. The banner petal, the standard or vexillum, is mostly ovate or rounded with a short claw and often hairy on the outside. The pair of oblong wings (or alae) flanking the keel are clawed, often ridged. The keel (or carina) is also clawed, variously shaped from two smaller petals.

The ten stamens are joined in a tube split to its base. The anthers are unequal, five of them are short and attached at their backs to the filaments, four long and attached at the base, while the last is one intermediate, between the two main types. The usually short-stalked ovary is obliquely ovate with two or more ovules. The style is incurved, ending in the tiny, capitate (compact and head-like) stigma.

The fruit is usually a dehiscent, variously shaped pod holding one to several seeds. The kidney-shaped or ovoid seeds are attached inside the pod by hair-like funicles.

There are about 278 Aspalathus species, all occurring in southern Africa. This is the largest genus of flowering plants fully endemic to the region. They are mostly found in fynbos, the majority of species growing in winter rain conditions in the Western Cape.  

The rooibos tea plant, Aspalathus linearis, is the best known and economically most important member of the genus. It was already used by the Khoi people of the Cederberg in beverages before the arrival of Europeans.

The plant in picture is A. asparagoides (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Manning, 2007; Van Wyk and Gericke, 2000; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; www.plantzafrica.com).