Metalasia erubescens

Metalasia erubescens is a white-woolly shrub reaching heights around 1 m.

The narrow, ericoid leaves are half-twisted, tufts of them often appearing in axils of older leaves.

The flowerheads are usually pink, occasionally white. The Afrikaans common name of pienk blombos (pink flower bush), is justified when the plant is in full bloom. The unopened buds are white in the early stages.

The small individual flowerheads grow at stem-tips in large flat-topped clusters. Each flowerhead or capitulum comprises three to five tiny disc florets, surrounded by an involucre of three or four rows of triangular pink bracts. Flowering happens in spring and summer.

The species distribution is on Western Cape coastal flats and slopes, from Elgin and Kleinmond to Caledon and Agulhas.

The habitat is fynbos in sandy soil. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Bean and Johns, 2005; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).