Mimetes fimbriifolius

Mimetes fimbriifolius, commonly the tree pagoda and in Afrikaans the maanhaarstompie (little mane stump), is a small, rounded and compact tree. The largest of the Mimetes species, it reaches heights from 3 m to 5 m and becomes equally wide (SA Tree List No. 72.2).

The gnarled stem is corky, the bark grey-brown, irregularly fissured and thick. This fire-resistant bark becomes 2,5 cm thick, often saving the single-stemmed (that means reseeding) tree from fire.

The alternate, simple leaves are crowded near the stem-tips, oblong to elliptic in shape with two to four obscure and thickened apical teeth. The leaf-base tapers, the leaf sessile. The thick, leathery blades are covered in appressed hairs, more so when young.

The leaf margins are fringed by silvery white hairs. The specific name, fimbriifolius, is derived from the Latin words, fimbriae meaning threads forming a fringe and folium meaning a leaf, referring to the hairy leaf margins.

The species is confined to the Cape Peninsula mountains south of Table Mountain. It may earlier have occurred a little more widely.

The habitat is rocky fynbos slopes and flats. Due to its restricted range the plant is considered rare but not threatened, as it now mainly grows in the protected area of the Table Mountain National Park, its population stable.

The wood was harvested as firewood in the past, the bark for extracting tannin (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; http://redlist.sanbi.org).