Hermannia pinnata

Hermannia pinnata, sometimes called the pinnate dollsrose, in Afrikaans the kruippoprosie (creeping dollsrose) and previously scientifically Mahernia verticillata, is a mat-forming, sprawling shrublet. Stems can become 1 m long, but the plant only 15 cm tall.

The narrow green leaves are either linear, two- or three-lobed. At the leaf base similarly narrow and lobed green stipules persist, resembling the leaves and creating the impression of whorls of leaves being present.

The flowers of Hermannia pinnata are orange or yellow, bell-shaped and pendulous. Dark red veins are visible on the orange corolla surfaces in the picture. The flowers attract bees and are honey-scented, begging the question as to cause and effect. A plant species is not so easily credited for giving honey its scent, more often blamed when the honey has an undesirable taste.

The species distribution is on the west coast of the Western Cape, from the Cape Peninsula to Velddrif.

The habitat is dunes and flats in strandveld, coastal scrub and granitic renosterveld. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).