Mimetes chrysanthus

Mimetes chrysanthus, commonly known as the golden pagoda, is an erect, sparsely branched shrub that grows from a single stem to 2 m in height.

The species is a Little Karoo endemic found in a small distribution in the Gamkaberg and the Perdeberg. The plants habitat is montane, arid fynbos on steep, southeast-facing sandstone slopes. The Gamkaberg extends in the southeast from the Rooiberg, covered in patches of fynbos among the general Little Karoo vegetation types.

This rare species, only discovered in 1987, is considered to be vulnerable in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; http://www.pza.sanbi.org; www.redlist.sanbi.org).