Agathosma ciliaris

Agathosma ciliaris, hairy buchu or sometimes frill buchu, is a single-stemmed, rounded shrublet reaching 45 cm in height. The plants exude an aniseed aroma.

The lanceolate leaves have acutely pointed tips. The upper leaf surfaces are concave, the midribs prominent on the lower surfaces and the margins sometimes hairy. The leaves are from 4 mm to 8 mm long.

The flowers grow in flattish, stem-tip clusters, the five obovate, spreading petals white, mauve or pink, about 5 mm long. The sepals are usually ciliate. Either the leaves or the sepals may be referred to in the frill buchu common name. The specific name is derived from the Latin word cilium meaning an eyelid, referring to the fringed margins resembling eyelashes.

The pedicels are pinkish. There are lanceolate staminodes with the stamens. Flowering happens from late autumn to early summer. The fruits are three-loculed capsules.

The species distribution is in the southwest of the Western Cape from the Cape Peninsula to the Agulhas Plain. This rain-bedraggled specimen was seen in Hermanus.

The habitat is coastal scrub and fynbos on flats and slopes in sandstone and shale. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Andrew, 2017; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).