Leysera gnaphalodes and green bottle fly

The green bottle fly is a surprising pollinator on Leysera gnaphalodes. But insects don’t heed no entry signs. Sometimes at their peril, as too many insect trespassers have already been prosecuted, eradicated via insecticides in South Africa and elsewhere. Flowers of the world need pollination and all contributions are gladly accepted, even from the rarest contributors!

The needle-like leaves ascending around the whitish upper stems are here green in parts, white to silvery in others, maybe the two sides of a blade sometimes differently coloured. These leaves are aromatic, the hairs on them having stalked glands.

Tea made from L. gnaphalodes leaves may not be as commonly used as in the past, but it has been commended.

Commonly growing on disturbed terrain, the plants may proliferate in fallow or disused croplands (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Le Roux, et al, 2005; Manning and Goldblatt, 1996; iNaturalist).