Muraltia dispersa

Muraltia dispersa is a much-branched, spreading or erect, woody shrub that grows to 40 cm and does not resprout after fire. The leaves are dark green, small and narrow with sharp tips that sometimes curve down, although not in the specimen in picture. A leaf measures around 1 cm in length and 3 mm in width. Leaves are sometimes bunched between bare internodes.

Small pink, sometimes white flowers appear from end winter to midsummer. The fruit capsule has long horns, a feature found in some form on several of the Muraltia species that do not produce globose fleshy fruits.

The distribution is in the Little Karoo from around Ladismith to the Kouga Mountains and Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape. The plant grows on upper, dry fynbos slopes. This one was seen in October near Van Wyksdorp (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984).