Brunia noduliflora

Brunia noduliflora, in Afrikaans commonly known as stompie (little stump) and several other regional names, is a rounded shrub reaching 1,5 m in height. Coppices from the woody rootstock are common from this resprouter.

The finely hairy, upper branches are densely covered in small, overlapping leaves. The many, thin cylinders of stems and leaves are notably erect.

In picture, stem-tips reach the height of some old, globular flowerheads that have lost their creamy white, fluffy floret coverings. There is a sturdy collar of tightly packed bracts below each flowerhead. Flowering happens from summer to winter, probably with regional variations.

An Aulax branch growing through the centre of the flowerhead cluster shows how unimportant respect for personal space can be among plants.

The species distribution along the Western Cape and Eastern Cape coasts ranges from the Cape Peninsula to Uitenhage and inland in the Western Cape from Piketberg to the Little Karoo.

The plants grow in a habitat of fynbos on rocky slopes in sandstone derived soil. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).