Aspalathus aspalathoides

Aspalathus aspalathoides is a small shrub growing erect or spreading stems to heights around 40 cm.

The leaves are three-foliolate, with leaflets flat and ovate, tapering to acute tips. Leaves may be sparsely hairy as in this photo taken in Fernkloof, but may also be glabrous (hairless). Leaf colour is pale green to bluish green, sometimes showing a little red near the tips of young leaves.

The flowering on the plant in the photo is over, the beige and whitish remains of corollas appearing downy.

The species distribution is in the far southwest of the Western Cape, from the Cape Peninsula to Swellendam and Ladismith.

The habitat is fynbos on lowlands and lower slopes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).