''Elegia tectorum'', previously ''Chondropetalum tectorum'' or ''Restio tectorum'', more commonly Cape thatching reed, or dakriet (in

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

), is a member of the

restio ''Restio'' is a genus of flowering plants within the family Restionaceae, described in 1772.Rottbøll, Christen Friis. 1772. Descriptiones Plantarum Rariorum 9 The entire genus is endemic to South Africa (Cape Province and KwaZulu-Natal). In c ...

family,

Restionaceae The Restionaceae, also called restiads and restios, are a family (biology), family of flowering plants native to the Southern Hemisphere; they vary from a few centimeters to 3 meters in height. Following the APG IV system, APG IV (2016): the fami ...

. It is a tufted

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

growing to between 1.5 and 2.25 m, with

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

leaf sheaths. Flowers are less than 3 mm long. Petals are smooth or hairy in the upper half. ''E. tectorum'' is found in marshes and seeps on deep sand in 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

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 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The species was originally noted by

Carl Linnaeus the Younger Carl Linnaeus the Younger, Carolus Linnaeus the Younger, Carl von Linné den yngre (Swedish; abbreviated Carl von Linné d. y.), or ''Linnaeus filius'' (Latin for ''Linnaeus the son''; abbreviated L.fil. (outdated) or L.f. (modern) as a botanic ...

. In 1838, ''E. tectorum'' was noted by Irish botanist

William Henry Harvey William Henry Harvey, FRS FLS (5 February 1811 – 15 May 1866) was an Irish botanist and phycologist who specialised in algae. Biography Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. His father ...

(as ''R. Tectorum'') for its use as a thatching material, and in the making of brooms and baskets. Historically, only the taller forms of the species, growing in the surroundings of

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the up ...

, was used for thatching; the more popular thatching reed was ''

Thamnochortus insignis ''Thamnochortus insignis'' is a species of grass-like restio of the family Restionaceae, endemic to Cape Province in South Africa. Appearance Plants are tall, grass- or reed-like tussocks with a diameter of 500 mm to 1 metre at the base ...

''. Carl Peter Thunberg also noted the use in thatching in 1793, as did English botanist

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

in 1846. Thurnberg notes the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

had a farm at Zeekoe Valley (17 km SSE of the

Castle of Good Hope The Castle of Good Hope ( nl, Kasteel de Goede Hoop; af, Kasteel die Goeie Hoop) known locally as the Castle or Cape Town Castle is a bastion fort built in the 17th century in Cape Town, South Africa. Originally located on the coastline of ...

), where the reed was cultivated. He describes its use at the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

as follows: ''Elegia tectorum'' was later called ''Chondropetalum tectorum'', but

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups (" clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...

analysis, conducted by Moline and Linder (2005) found that the genera of ''Chondropetalum'' and ''Dovea'' were imbedded in ''Elegia''. In cultivation in the UK this plant has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

References

tectorum Endemic flora of South Africa Flora of the Cape Provinces Fynbos Garden plants of Southern Africa {{Poales-stub