''Bulbostylis hispidula'' (Afrikaans: ''fynbiesie'', "fine rush") is a plant native to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Eswatini Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where i ...

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

, and

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. The subspecies ''pyriformis'' can be found in all South African provinces except

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

. On the SANBI Red List, it is listed as "safe" (LC). The species has an almost pan-tropical range: Central and northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

; western, central, northeastern, eastern, and southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and southern

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. There are several subspecies with somewhat narrower rangers, but this is not completely certain. They grow everywhere from grasslands with a rainy season and deserts to dry grasslands and marshes along the coast. ''Bulbostylis hispidula'' is an

annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook **Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), a ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

plant with clumped seeds and a woody, fragrant root stock. The stem is 50–80 cm long and around 0.5-1.5 mm in diameter. The leaves are attached to the base of the stem. Sepals are light green and range from very hairy to almost bare. The leaves are 0.5 mm wide and less than 15 cm, often just 1–2 cm, long. The ovoid thorns are 4–15 mm long and 2–4 mm wide. The chromosomes are n=5.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15561241 hispidula Plants described in 1983