Thamnochortus fraternus

Thamnochortus fraternus, commonly called the dune thatching reed and sometimes the red thatchreed, grows scapes (stems or culms) in a dense tuft, as do so many restios. It occasionally reaches heights of about 1 m but commonly only a little over half that. Plant diameter is about 20 cm at the base, 80 cm at the top. The culms are simple and smooth with narrowly lanceolate, erect bracts on the culms, brown and cartilaginous with pointed tips on the stem nodes. 

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula to around Bredasdorp.

The habitat is coastal flats and well-drained slopes in limestone soils at elevations ranging between 50 m and 200 m. The habitat population is deemed near threatened early in the twenty first century, due to invasion of its habitat by alien vegetation (Dorrat-Haaksma and Linder, 2012; Privett and Lutzeyer, 2010; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).