Restio gaudichaudianus

Restio gaudichaudianus is a clumped and tangled perennial growing a multitude of straight culms to heights from 75 cm to 1 m. It belongs to the Ischyrolepis subgenus of Restio. The plant resprouts after fire.

The sheaths have transparent shoulders that are tall and pointed, loosely wrapped around the culms. The culms branch much in their upper halves into bunches of thin, purple-spotted stems. The bracts have no awns. 

The spikelets are variable, up to 8 mm long, each comprising several florets. Female spikelets are cylindrical, sometimes curved, up to three-flowered. The spikelets on the male plants grow in groups of three to sometimes more than nine with linear anthers in an oblong spathe. The fruit is a compressed, three-sided capsule.

The species distribution is widespread in the southwest of the Western Cape, also into the Northern Cape and the Eastern Cape to Humansdorp.

The habitat is fynbos and succulent Karoo in dry, rocky areas where the plants grow in well-drained, often sandy soils. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Dorrat-Haaksma and Linder, 2012; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; JSTOR; http://redlist.sanbi.org).