Elytropappus adpressus

Elytropappus adpressus, commonly known as the wife renosterbush and in Afrikaans as the wyfierenosterbos, is a single-stemmed, much-branched shrub that reaches heights around 1,5 m.

The slender branches are thin wand-like rods, not woolly as those of the more well-known E. rhinocerotis.

The small, thread-like, green leaves are densely pressed to the stems. The leaves are about 3 mm long and 1 mm wide.

The three-flowered flowerheads are creamy brown, about 5 mm in diameter, growing solitary from upper leaf axils. Flowering happens in autumn and winter.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from Clanwilliam to the Cape Peninsula eastwards into the Eastern Cape as far as Joubertina.

The habitat is arid, rocky fynbos slopes in sandy soils. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist; JSTOR; http://redlist.sanbi.org).