Dicoma anomala subsp. anomala

Dicoma anomala subsp. anomala is a perennial growing several nearly erect or reclining stems from a stout, woody rootstock.

The simple, alternate leaves are long and narrow, linear in shape. The blades are dark green on top with visible midribs and white-felted below. The leaves become 9 mm long and often only 2 mm wide.

The thistle-like flowerheads are white to pale pink-mauve, from 1,5 cm to 5 cm in diameter. This subspecies bears narrow, sharply pointed involucral bracts in several rows that curve away from the heads. Flowering commences before midsummer and lasts until autumn.

The species distribution is widespread in the east of southern Africa, occurring in all the South African provinces apart from the two in the west.

The plants grow in stony and sometimes wooded grassland. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century.

The plant features widely in traditional medicine, also in the treatment of farm animals (Van Rooyen and Van Rooyen, 2019; Pooley, 1998; Van Wyk and Malan, 1997; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).