Dasispermum suffruticosum in summer heat

Very unlike the lush and verdant appearance of the other Dasispermum suffruticosum photos in this Album, this plant shows what midsummer sun does to beach vegetation on the South African coast. Please use your sunblock!

This plant was photographed at Onrus near Hermanus in December. The white flowers are gone; some fruits are ripening, while seeds are already being dispersed abundantly. This flourishing seed production does much to counteract human impact on coastal habitat, currently keeping the species safe from significant population decrease early in the twenty first century (Manning and Goldblatt, 1996).

(Also see the entries for D. suffruticosum in the Herbs Album in the Types category, as well as in the Habitat Diversity Album.)