Berkheya cuneata

Berkheya cuneata is a sprawling, thistle-like shrublet reaching 50 cm in height. The scented yellow flowerheads grow mostly solitary at branch tips. The flowerhead measures 5 cm across, comprising both disc and ray florets.

In this photo the desiccated brown involucral bracts retaining the dense rosette shape from their flowering days, are all that have remained of the flower. These bracts show their daunting spiny margins that resemble the leaves, as well as dark net-veining on their now translucent brown surfaces. The involucral bracts are longer than what the ray florets of the daisy were. Flowering happens from autumn to spring, after rain.

The species grows in the Little Karoo from Montagu to Uniondale.

The plants feature in clay soils on rocky slopes and riversides. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; Manning, 2009; http://redlist.sanbi.org).