Pteronia pallens

Pteronia pallens is a much branched, woody shrub that grows many pale stems to 1 m. It doesn’t resprout after fire, however, as its base is single-stemmed.

The plant is commonly known as the aasvoëlbos (vulture bush) and by many other parochial names in its wide-ranging distribution, including armoedsbos (poverty bush) and witbas (white bark).

The leaves are opposite, thread-like and blunt-ended. They are smooth, long and narrow, channelled on top as the margins turn up. Young growth is bright green.

Flowerheads grow at stem tips; pale green bracts surround the cluster of about twelve yellow to orange disc florets in each head. There are no ray florets (daisy-like outer petals). The involucral bracts are not sticky or only slightly so on this species. Blooming happens in spring and summer.

P. pallens is a shrub of the Western Cape and Northern Cape, particularly the Little Karoo and western parts of the Great Karoo.

The habitat is loamy or sandy slopes and plains, often calciferous land. The plant is not browsed as it is toxic, containing a liver poison. Where it predominates, the veld is sometimes regarded as poorly managed (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Shearing and Van Heerden, 2008; Vahrmeijer, 1981).