Dischisma ciliatum subsp. ciliatum

Dischisma ciliatum subsp. ciliatum, commonly known in Afrikaans as the kleinkatstert (small cat tail), is a sprawling perennial in the Scrophulariaceae family reaching heights around 40 cm.

The simple, sessile leaves are opposite or in whorls of three in picture. The leaf-shape is narrowly linear to elliptic with pointed tip, the margins hairy and sometimes toothed. The specific (and subspecific) name, ciliatum, is derived from the Latin word cilium meaning eyelid, referring to the fringed leaf margins.

The flowers grow in long, dense spikes, sometimes scented. The calyx is two-lobed, joined to a hairy bract below it. The white, one-lipped corolla is four-lobed, its basal tube funnel-shaped and slit on one side. A flower is about 10 mm long. The four stamens grow in two dissimilar pairs. Bloomtime is late winter and spring.

The distribution of the subspecies is mainly coastal in the Western Cape and slightly into the southwest of the Northern Cape near Lokenburg. The photo was taken near Tulbagh.

The habitat is rocky fynbos and renosterveld slopes and flats. The subspecies habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Curtis-Scott, et al, 2020; Manning, 2009; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).