Saltera sarcocolla

Saltera sarcocolla, commonly known as the Cape fellwort or in Afrikaans as the vlieëbos (flies bush), is a multistemmed, coppicing and resprouting shrub that reaches heights around 1,5 m. The Saltera genus is monotypic, comprising only the one species.

The flowerheads consist of up to six glossy pink to purple flowers that grow at branch tips. There are sticky yellow bracts at the base of the heads. Blooming starts in late winter and continues to summer.

The specific name, Sarcocolla, is derived from the Greek words sarkos meaning flesh and kolla meaning glue, referring to the sticky floral bracts and the stem just below that is also sticky and fleshy.

The species distribution is in the far southwest of the Western Cape from Cape Peninsula to Franschhoek and Bredasdorp.

The habitat is sandstone fynbos slopes in the south-western corner of the Western Cape. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Bean and Johns, 2005; Manning, 2009; http://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).