''Diastella thymelaeoides'' is a flower-bearing shrub that belongs to the genus ''

Diastella ''Diastella'' is a genus containing seven species of flowering plants, commonly known as “silkypuffs”, in the protea family. The name comes from the Greek ''diastellein'' “to separate”, with reference to the free perianth lobes – the pl ...

'' and forms part of the fynbos. The plant is native to the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

and occurs in the

Hottentots Holland Mountains The Hottentots Holland Mountains are part of the Cape Fold Belt in the Western Cape, South Africa. The mountain range forms a barrier between the Cape Town metropolitan area and the southern Overberg coast. The range is primarily composed of Ta ...

and northern

Kogelberg The Kogelberg is a range of mountains along the False Bay coast in the Western Cape of South Africa. They form part of the Cape Fold Belt, starting south of the Elgin valley and forming a steep coastal range as far as Kleinmond. The Kogelberg ...

around the

Steenbras Dam The Steenbras Dam ("STEE-un bruss"), now referred to as Steenbras Lower Dam, is a gravity concrete arch type dam located in the Hottentots-Holland mountains, above Gordons Bay, near Cape Town in South Africa. It is one of the six large dams that ...

. The shrub grows upright and grows only 1.5 m tall and flowers throughout the year with a peak from August to November. Fire destroys the plant but the seeds survive. Two months after flowering, the fruit falls off and ants disperse the seeds. They store the seeds in their nests. The plant is unisexual. Pollination takes place through the action of bees. The plant grows on rocky sandstone slopes at altitudes of 450–900 m.

References

External links

* * * thymelaeoides Flora of South Africa {{Proteaceae-stub