Peliostomum leucorrhizum

Peliostomum leucorrhizum, commonly known in Afrikaans as springbokbos (springbok bush) or springbokkos (springbok food), is a wiry shrublet reaching heights to about 30 cm. The rootstock is often thickened, the young, sparsely to much-branched stems green and the old ones whitish.

The specific epithet, leucorrhizum, is derived from the Greek words leukos meaning white and rhiza meaning a root, presumably referring to the plants root colour, which wasnt checked.

The alternate leaves are simple, short-stalked to sessile and shaped narrowly lanceolate or linear. The margins are entire and turned up, or the blades channelled.

The species occurs widespread in South Africa, from Limpopo to the Western Cape and some neighbouring countries, including Botswana and Namibia. The photo was taken in the Little Karoo on Minwater near Oudtshoorn.

The habitat is lowland karoid flats, watercourses and floodplains of the drier regions. The vegetation here is variable, the plants growing in sandy and loamy soils but not in fynbos or renosterveld. The species is not considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century.

The plants are browsed (Van Rooyen and Van Rooyen, 2019; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Shearing and Van Heerden, 2008; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; iNaturalist; http://redlist.snbi.org).