Othonna parviflora on the Piketberg Mountain

The old and the new are both well represented on this Othonna parviflora plant. Laboriously curving branches that are bare, pale grey-brown and gnarled in patches, are taking their time in shedding old leaves. Every bit of photosynthetic food production must be squeezed out of the fading leaf to bring about blooming abundance of this magnitude.

Large, blue-grey leaves and small, yellow flowerheads form a proven aesthetic pairing, favoured by the Othonna genus (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist).