Aspalathus acuminata subsp. acuminata

Aspalathus acuminata subsp. acuminata is an erect, spiny shrub, often sparsely branched and reaching heights from 20 cm to 3 m, depending on the habitat.

It produces pale to bright yellow or orange flowers from late winter to early autumn. The banner petal may be purplish in part, the keel hairy. The hairy calyx lobes are spine-tipped.

The subspecies distribution is in the Western Cape from Clanwilliam to the Cape Peninsula and eastwards to George; inland to the Witteberg Mountains near Matjiesfontein in the Karoo.

The plants grow in varied habitats from fynbos to Karoo scrub. The subspecies is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; www.fernkloof.org.za; http://redlist.sanbi.org).