Microloma tenuifolium

Microloma tenuifolium, commonly the wax creeper and in Afrikaans kannetjies (little cans), is a slender climber. It grows from thickened roots, reaching heights around 1 m.

The simple, opposite leaves are narrowly strap-shaped and channelled. Leaf dimensions are up to 20 mm long and less than 5 mm wide. The specific name, tenuifolium, is derived from the Latin words tenuis meaning slender and folium meaning leaf, referring to the narrow leaf-shape.

The urn-shaped flowers composed of wavy petals grow in small, compact clusters from leaf axils, the pedicels and calyces hairy. The flowers are red, orange or pink and waxy, 10 mm to 15 mm long. The petals are spirally twisted around the corolla mouth. Flowering happens in winter and spring.

The fruit is a spindle-shaped follicle.

The species distribution is in the Western Cape from the Gifberg to the Cape Peninsula and through the Little Karoo to the Eastern Cape as far as Gqeberha. The photo was taken in the Outeniqua Mountain foothills south of Oudtshoorn.

The habitat is fynbos, renosterveld and scrub on stony, loamy or sandy slopes. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).