In habitat old, tall Oedera squarrosa or vierkantperdekaroo bushes may form large stands. Sparsely branched and soon leafless, the woody, bare stems abound in picture in old, unburnt veld of scrub and some renosterbos. The photo was taken in the Little Karoo near Barrydale.
These plants are single-stemmed, not resprouting after fire (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2007; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; https://keyserver.lucidcentral.org).