''Serruria triternata'', the Tulbagh spiderbush, is a flowering shrub that belongs to the genus ''

Serruria ''Serruria'', or spiderhead is a genus of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, endemic to South Africa. Names ''Serruria'' was named in honor of Joseph Serrurier, a professor of botany at the Utrecht University early in the eighteenth ce ...

'' and forms part of the

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 ...

. The plant is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 only occurs in the Elandskloof Mountains near Tulbagh. The shrub is upright and reaches 1.0 m in height and flowers in September. Fire destroys the plant but the seeds survive. Two months after flowering, the fruit falls and ants disperse the seeds. They store the seeds in their nests. The plant is unisexual. Pollination takes place through the action of beetles, butterflies and moths. The plant grows on slopes at elevations of 400 - 950 m.

References

Sources

REDLIST Sanbi

PlantZAfrica

Plants of the World Online
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18080237 triternata Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces Fynbos