''Metalasia muricata'', commonly known as white bristle bush or blombos, is a hardy virgate or twiggy shrub with honey-scented flowers usually 2–4 m tall, woody with a rounded crown, and an important component of the coastal and mountain

fynbos Fynbos (; meaning fine plants) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. This area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean clim ...

regions of Southern Africa. It is encountered in a number of forms in its extended distribution, some of which are tolerant of frost, wind and poor sandy soils. A member of the Asteraceae or daisy family, ''Metalasia'' has some 54 species in South Africa, many of them found in the Western Cape. The name of the genus ''Metalasia'' is derived from 'meta' which can have many meanings, but in this case is intended as 'reverse', and 'lasios' meaning 'woolly', an allusion to the woolly reverse sides of the leaves; 'muricata' means warty with short, sharp points like the shell of the '' Murex''. ''Metalasia'' is also found in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

, Free State,

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

and

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

. The leaves of ''Metalasia muricata'' are some 6 mm long, in tufts or

fascicle Fascicle or ''fasciculus'' may refer to: Anatomy and histology * Muscle fascicle, a bundle of skeletal muscle fibers * Nerve fascicle, a bundle of axons (nerve fibers) ** Superior longitudinal fasciculus *** Arcuate fasciculus ** Gracile fas ...

d, closely packed about the stem, acicular or needle-like, sharp-tipped, greenish-grey and may be either glabrous or woolly. Flowers range from white to pink or purple, are bisexual, and produce fruits or cypselae which in this genus are ribbed nutlets with bristly

pappi In Asteraceae, the pappus is the modified calyx, the part of an individual floret, that surrounds the base of the corolla tube in flower. It functions as a wind-dispersal mechanism for the seeds. The term is sometimes used for similar s ...

. The greyish bark is slightly striated. This is one of the first plant species to reappear after a fire, and offers shelter to less resilient plants when they emerge after being burnt. It is occasionally used with Marram grass and ''

Chrysanthemoides monilifera ''Osteospermum moniliferum'' ''(Chrysanthemoides monilifera)'' is an evergreen flowering shrub or small tree of the Asteraceae (daisy) family that is native to South Africa, such as the Cape Flats Dune Strandveld habitat. Most subspecies have woo ...

'' to stabilise coastal dunes.

Gallery

Metalasia muricata01.jpg, Metalasia muricata02.jpg,

References

External links

*
Fernkloof.com: Gallery
{{Taxonbar, from=Q6822773 Gnaphalieae Flora of Lesotho Flora of South Africa Flora of KwaZulu-Natal Flora of the Cape Provinces Fynbos