''Spatalla racemosa'', the lax-stalked spoon, is a flower-bearing shrub that belongs to the genus ''

Spatalla ''Spatalla'' is a genus containing 20 species of flowering plants, commonly known as "spoons", in the family Proteaceae. The genus is endemic to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa where it is associated with fynbos habitats. The species a ...

'' 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 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 ...

where it is found in the

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 a ...

Groenland mountains The Groenland (Dutch for "Greenland") is a small mountain range in the Western Cape, South Africa, and forms part of the Cape Fold Belt. Location and geography The Groenland mountains run from east to west. They lie between the Hottentots Hollan ...

, Babilonstoringberge,

Kleinrivier Mountains The Kleinrivier Mountains are a mountain range in the Cape Fold Belt of the Western Cape province of South Africa. Kleinrivier means "Small River" in Afrikaans and is named after the river in the area that mouths out near Hermanus where the ran ...

as well as at

Villiersdorp Villiersdorp is a town of approximately 10,000 people located in the Western Cape province of South Africa in the Overberg region. Unlike most of the geographical region which specialises in wheat and canola farming, the Villiersdorp Valley is no ...

. The shrub grows only 50 cm tall and flowers from September to March. The plant dies after a fire but the seeds survive. The plant is bisexual and pollination takes place through the action of insects. Two months after the plant has flowered, the ripe seeds fall to the ground where they are spread by ants. The plant grows in a variety of habitats: rocky slopes and level, sandstone soil at altitudes of 150-620 m.

References

racemosa {{Improve categories, date=February 2022