Orphium frutescens, the sea rose bearing white flowers

Orphium frutescens is a coastal plant of the Western Cape. In this case “coastal” means right close to the high tide mark. The plant copes with salt, wind, summer drought and winter wetness. This specimen is unusual in having white flowers. The common flower colour is deep pink.

The plant is surrounded by kikuyu grass in the veld at Onrus. How does this grass get here? Years of dumping garden refuse! People caring about their own patches but not the land around cause many unwanted exotic garden favourites to invade veld near houses. The shrinking residual "nature areas" accessible to all people are precious; deserve to be kept pristine.

The shape of this O. frutescens shrublet represents the typical growth habit of the species well.

See also the entries on O. frutescens in the Types Section of the Site Albums under Shrubs (www.plantzafrica.com).