Serruria

Serruria is a genus of shrubs and shrublets in the Proteaceae family. Some are erect, others sprawl or creep with even flowerheads on the ground.

The alternate leaves are dissected into cylindrical to needle-like or linear segments, entire leaves rare.

The pink or silvery inflorescences occur in panicles, sometimes much-branched, otherwise solitary at stem-tips. A flowerhead or capitulum is surrounded by an involucre of usually small bracts, in some species enlarged and colourful.

The flowerhead comprises bisexual florets, each consisting of a regular or nearly regular perianth, a pistil and anthers on the insides of the perianth segments. The perianth is straight or incurving in the bud phase, the perianth segments on the outside usually hairier than those on the inside.

The stalkless ovary at the base of the pistil is ovoid and hairy, bearing a single ovule with four scales usually present. The style is cylindrical and straight or incurved, sometimes hairy on its lower half. The pollen presenter is club-shaped, cylindrical or head-like.

The fruit is small, dry and hairy, its shape oblong to ovoid with beaked tip, bearing a single seed.

There are about 55 Serruria species, all endemic to Western Cape fynbos. The majority of the species have survival issues regarding their populations in nature, mostly rendering them more disadvantaged than desirable. To be more specific, only seven serrurias are considered of least concern early in the twenty first century, while at least ten are critically endangered.

Geographical distribution, growth habit including peduncle length, number of heads per stem and floret shape (straight, curved, kinked or bent) are all features that often contribute to species identification.

The spiderhead common name is derived from the finely divided, silvery leaves that resemble spider webs.

The plant in picture is Serruria elongata (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Manning, 2007).