Hypocalyptus sophoroides

    Hypocalyptus sophoroides
    Author: Ivan Lätti
    Photographer: Louis Jordaan

    Hypocalyptus sophoroides, sometimes called the wedgeleaf redkeur and commonly known in Afrikaans as the rooikeur (red blossom tree or Virgilia), is a robust, tree-like shrub reaching heights from 1 m to 6 m.

    It is sometimes multistemmed, usually sprouting after fire in the eastern part of its distribution range, an unusually divergent attribute.

    The leaves are trifoliolate, the spoon-shaped leaflets wide at their tips, hairless and blue-green with entire margins. The leaflets are from 10 mm to 35 mm long.

    The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Cederberg to Stellenbosch, Caledon, the Langeberg Mountains and the Little Karoo. The habitat is montane and riparian fynbos on sandstone. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).

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