Nemesia rupicola

Nemesia rupicola, the mountain nemesia and previously N. melissifolia or N. melissaefolia, is a branched perennial, occasionally an annual, growing soft stems to heights around 70 cm.

The short-petioled leaves are ovate with toothed margins and conspicuous indentations on the upper leaf surfaces along the main veins.

The flowers grow in short racemes at stem tips. Flower colour may be white, pink and pale mauve. There is a short spur at the back of the corolla. The two characteristic, elliptic, cushion-like humps can be seen in the photo at the base of the lower lip.

The species distribution is widespread in north-eastern South Africa, the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal and the provinces north of the Vaal River, as well as in Lesotho and Swaziland. This plant was observed in the Mkhomazi Wilderness Area during January. It has a pale lower lip and vertical dark lines along the surface of the upper lip.

The habitat is moist inland grassland, often on rocky slopes, including some Drakensberg cliffs and boulder beds of streams at high altitudes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Trauseld, 1969; iNaturalist; iSpot; http://redlist.sanbi.org).