Hermannia flammula

Hermannia flammula is an erect shrublet reaching 60 cm in height. This plant is single-stemmed and reseeds, doesn’t resprout after fire. 

The leaf shape is narrowly obovate (3 mm wide), widening slightly to a rounded, sometimes notched tip. The leaves are hairy, often velvety grey and folded in along their midribs. The petioles are short to almost absent. There are linear stipules next to the leaves on the stem.

The species is found in the Western Cape from Caledon and the Little Karoo eastwards in the Eastern Cape down the Langkloof to Kareedouw.

The habitat is variable in fynbos and renosterveld, the plants growing in sandy and loam soils. The population in nature is stable, not considered to be under threat early in the twenty first century.

H. flammula is browsed by stock and game (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).