Hermannia odorata

Hermannia odorata is a single-stemmed shrub that reaches heights from 60 cm to 90 cm.

The narrowly oblanceolate leaves are round-tipped and folded in along their midribs. They taper at the base into very short petioles. The velvety blades are greyish green. Leaf dimensions are about 20 mm long and 5 mm wide.

The yellow flowers on short pedicels nod from upper stem leaf axils in few-flowered, short racemes. There are thread-like bracts behind the rounded cups of the velvety calyces. The sepals end in in-curving or straight, triangular and keeled lobes.

The twisted yellow corollas are double the calyx length or slightly longer. The flowers that are 5 mm in diameter fade to orange, sometimes red. The specific name is derived from the Latin word odoratus meaning fragrant. Check next time.

Flowering happens from winter to early autumn.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from Clanwilliam through the Little Karoo to Uniondale and possibly slightly into the Eastern Cape. The photo was taken at the Minwater farm near Oudtshoorn.

The habitat is clay and loam soils in flats and slopes of renosterveld and varied shrubveld. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; JSTOR; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).