Metalasia erubescens

Metalasia erubescens, previously scientifically M. nitidula, is a white-woolly shrub reaching heights around 1 m.

The narrow, ericoid leaves are half-twisted, tufts of them often appearing in axils of older leaves.

The flowerheads are usually pink, occasionally white, and the buds white in the early stages. The Afrikaans common name of pienk blombos (pink flower bush), is justified by the plant in full bloom. The small individual flowerheads grow at stem-tips in large flat-topped clusters. Each flowerhead or capitulum comprises three to five tiny disc florets, surrounded by an involucre of three or four rows of triangular pink bracts. Flowering happens in spring and summer.

The species distribution is small in the Western Cape, from Elgin and Kleinmond to Caledon and Agulhas.

The habitat is fynbos coastal flats and slopes in sandy soils. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Bean and Johns, 2005; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).