Edmondia sesamoides pale yellow bracts, brown centres

These flowerheads of Edmondia sesamoides were seen in Fernkloof during December. The pale yellow centres are not quite what they used to be when the disc florets were fresh. But the dry everlasting flowerheads remain pretty for long as they change gradually. Each flowerhead measures close to 30 cm across. The fruits that follow are elliptic. The plant grows on rocky slopes and flats.

The needle-like leaves belonging with the flowers are tiny, adpressed to the upper parts of the grey stems. Lower leaves of E. sesamoides are spreading with their margins rolled up. The green strap-leaves in the photo belong to another plant. Personal space isn’t respected by fynbos plants! 

Lower growing plants are gradually swamped in the fynbos by taller shrubs in the established time share arrangement among short and tall species. This lasts until a veld fire restores a different balance, characteristic of an earlier phase in the veld growth cycle, allowing the short species to dominate again for a while (Manning, 2007; Bean and Johns, 2005).