Hypodiscus aristatus

Hypodiscus aristatus, commonly known as the pineapplereed, is a tufted perennial growing unbranched culms from a short rhizome to heights from 30 cm to 1,2 m. The culms are smooth, the sheaths around them tightly or loosely wrapped. The plants resprout after fire.

Male and female flowers grow on different plants. The spikelets at stem-tips are spindle-shaped, up to 2 cm long, growing solitary or in small groups. The bristly red-brown spikelets on the male plant in picture each has several long-awned bracts, ending in a brush-like cluster at the top of the spikelet.  

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula northwards to Clanwilliam and eastwards to the Eastern Cape in the Baviaanskloof and as far as Humansdorp.

The habitat is rocky fynbos slopes in well-drained sandy soils from sea level to 1900 m. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Euston-Brown and Kruger, 2023; Dorrat-Haaksma and Linder, 2012; Bean and Johns, 2005; iNaturalist; iSpot; https://redlist.sanbi.org).