Corymbium glabrum

Corymbium glabrum is a tufted perennial that grows to 60 cm. It is commonly called plampers, a word of unknown origin used as a name for at least one more corymbium.

The smooth, leathery and sword-shaped leaves are about 15 cm long and 2 cm wide.

These plants produce only spindle-shaped, deeply five-lobed disc florets, individually enveloped in two rows of bracts and aggregated in corymb-shaped, flat-topped clusters. There are no scales on the receptacle below.

The species distribution ranges from the south of the Northern Cape to the Cederberg in the Western Cape and eastwards across the southern coastal strip and the Little Karoo as far as Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape.

The habitat is rocky fynbos slopes in sandy soils at various altitudes and rainfall levels. There are two varieties of C. glabrum. The habitat populations of both are considered of least concern early in the twenty first century.

The Corymbium genus comprises 9 species, some with subspecies or varieties, all occurring in the fynbos, forming part of the Asteraceae family (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).