Zygophyllum flexuosum

Zygophyllum flexuosum is a spreading shrub with yellow flowers. It was previously known as Roepera flexuosa. It goes by the name of maerbos (lean bush) in Afrikaans. The plant reaches 1 m in height and becomes at least as wide. The stems are pale and angled.

The leaflets grow in sessile pairs. They are oval to obovate in shape. The flowers appear solitary in leaf axils. There are five petals to a flower, positioned separate from each other and marked with red at the corolla mouth. The yellow stamens protrude. Flowering happens in winter and early spring. The fruit are spherical when green and ripen to a dried five-angled shape.

The distribution is coastal in the south-western Cape between Vredendal and Knysna on stony and sandy ground. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Manning and Goldblatt, 1996; www.redlist.sanbi.org).