Serruria brownii

Serruria brownii, the bottlebrush spiderhead, is a shrub of the sandy flats between Hopefield and the Tygerberg in the Western Cape. It grows to 50 cm. The plant dies in fires and only survives through reseeding; it doesn’t resprout.

The seeds are collected from the plant by ants for consuming edible parts not vital to the plant’s propagation. Thus they are the chief seed dispersal agents for this and other fynbos species. The habitat has soils characterised by heavy sand, granite soil and shale.

This plant is threatened in its habitat due to agriculture, proximity to a city, i.e. too many people in its way and exotic plant invasion. Much of the original distribution area is now taken up by vineyards and wheat fields of the Cape. This may not be the country’s prettiest spiderhead plant—the blushing bride or S. florida is, according to many views. Every threatened indigenous species should be a concern to every good citizen (http://protea.worldonline.co.za; http//redlist.sanbi.org).