Harveya rosealba

Harveya roseoalba, commonly known as candyfloss and in Afrikaans as the spookasem-inkblom (ghost breath inkflower), is a perennial root parasite reaching 20 cm in height. There is no chlorophyl in the scale-like leaves.

The sessile flowers grow solitary from the leaf axils on the thick, erect stems. The calyces are woolly, a little sticky and bright pink. The tubular corolla is cream, fading to pink. The five shallowly rounded corolla lobes spread around the widish flower mouths, from which the anthers and styles with oblong stigmas are visible. Flower diameter is 15 mm, the corolla tube up to 40 mm long. Flowering happens in spring.

The species distribution is range restricted in the south of the Little Karoo from south of Oudtshoorn, the Gamkaberg and the northern and eastern slopes of the Outeniqua Mountains near Campher. The photo was taken on the Minwater farm near Oudtshoorn.

The habitat is montane sandstone and clayey fynbos. The plants parasitise on Phylica lanigera and Hermannia velutina. The species is rare but its population in nature deemed stable early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist; http://www.worldfloraonline.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).