Diascia bicolor

Diascia bicolor, the Karoo pansy, is an annual herb that sometimes reaches 30 cm in height. Its leaves grow in a basal tuft. They are elliptic in shape, rounded at the tip and tapering to the base. The leaf margins are sometimes toothed, varying in this respect even on the leaves of the plant in picture. The leaf midrib is conspicuously recessed on the upper leaf surface. The leaves become 3 cm long and 1,5 cm wide.

This plant is endemic to the Little Karoo. Its habitat is clay or loam flats in different vegetation types, excluding fynbos and renosterveld. The species is not considered threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010; www.redlist.sanbi.org).