Serruria candicans

Serruria candicans, commonly known as the shiny spiderhead, is a silver-leaved, reseeder shrublet reaching 75 cm in height and 50 cm in diameter.

The species distribution is small, in the southwest of the Western Cape from the Paardeberg near Malmesbury to Gouda and eastwards to the Slanghoek Mountains. The photo was taken in the Elandsberg Nature Reserve near Riebeek Kasteel during February.

The habitat is lower slopes and flats in granitic and sandy fynbos, also shale renosterveld; partly the interface or transition veld between fynbos and renosterveld. The species is considered to be endangered in its habitat early in the twenty first century, due to habitat loss from agriculture and industry, as well as concomitant pollution (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).