''Maerua racemulosa'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the

Capparaceae The Capparaceae (or Capparidaceae), commonly known as the caper family, are a family of plants in the order Brassicales. As currently circumscribed, the family contains 33 genera and about 700 species. The largest genera are '' Capparis'' (about ...

family, which is almost endemic to South Africa's coastal regions, where it is a constituent of shady forest

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...

and valley bushveld. They are shrubs or small trees, with mostly simple leaves, and entire margins. They flower profusely in mid-winter. Each flower bears numerous white filaments and a purple style, but no petals. The round fruit appear from August to October. These are yellow when ripe and 1 cm in diameter. It is a food plant for some species of ''

Colotis ''Colotis'', called orange tips or Arabs, is a genus of butterflies of the subfamily Pierinae found mainly in Africa and south-western Asia. The larvae of all ''Colotis'' species specialize on plants in the family Capparaceae. Species Liste ...

'' butterfly.

References

racemulosa Trees of Africa Flora of Southern Africa {{Brassicales-stub