Agathosma mundtii

These white flowers of Agathosma mundtii, in Afrikaans the jakkalspisbos (jackal urine bush), have out-curving, elliptic petals. The flowers emerge from leaf axils near the branch-tips and are about 5 mm in diameter. The petals are well longer than the short, pointed sepals, seen here clasping the still closed white buds at the base.

The outwards curving stamens are longer than the petals, the upright style about the same length as the petals or slightly longer. Flowering happens in winter and spring. A two-chambered fruit follows.

The leaves of the jakkalspisbos are ovate with acutely pointed tips and margins rolled under. The leaves become up to 5 mm wide and 10 mm long. When crushed the leaves exude a pungent smell, probably responsible for earning the plant its common name. This plant resprouts after veld fires.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Witteberg and the Swartberge to Uniondale and Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape.

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