Gorteria alienata

Gorteria alienata, in Afrikaans commonly the kleinhaarbossie (little hair bushlet) and previously scientifically Hirpicium alienatum, is a rounded to spreading, twiggy shrublet that reaches heights from 20 cm to 60 cm.

The alternate, simple leaves are sessile, rigid, narrowly elliptic with acutely pointed tips. The green blades are slightly bristly on top, woolly below with margins rolled under. Leaf dimensions are 5 mm to 10 mm long and 1 mm to 2 mm wide.

The species distribution is in the west of the Northern Cape across Namaqualand, the east of the Western Cape across the Karoo and the Little Karoo and into the west of the Eastern Cape as far as Uitenhage, also in southern Namibia. The photo was taken at Minwater near Oudtshoorn.

The habitat is rocky clay and granitic slopes and flats among semi-arid shrubs. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

The species is palatable, readily browsed (Van Rooyen and Van Rooyen, 2019; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org)