Aspalathus shawii subsp. shawii

Aspalathus shawii subsp. shawii is a single-stemmed, reseeding shrub that reaches about 1,2 m in height. The sparingly branched or wand-like but densely leafy stems are erect and woolly.

The trifoliolate leaves consist of leaflets that are needle-like, variably hairy, usually not straight to S-curved and spine-tipped. Leaves in the west of the distribution range tend to lose hairiness as they mature. The not quite cylindrical leaflets are from 6 mm to 15 mm long.

The large, yellow to pale yellow flowers are solitary on hairy pedicels, scattered on upper stems or clustered at their tips. The banner is hairy on its outside surface but not near the base, the other petals glabrous. The long flowering season lasts from late winter to early summer. The largest flowers are found on plants in the western part of the distribution range.

The species distribution is in the Little Karoo, particularly the Swartberg Mountains in the Western Cape, extending to the west slightly onto the Bokkeveld Plateau in the southwest of the Northern Cape and to the east into the far west of the Eastern Cape.

The habitat is dry fynbos on sandstone, less common in clay soils. The subspecies is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century.

There are two more subspecies of A. shawii, both rare in restricted distribution ranges (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; JSTOR; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).