''Cephalophyllum subulatoides'' is a plant

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in the family

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae, or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is d ...

, endemic to the eastern parts of the Western Cape Province,

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 ...

Description

A compact succulent groundcover, with dark green, acute, triquetrous (triangular in cross-section) leaves, pale-purple flowers, and round fruit capsules that have relatively few locules (''c.'' 12). The plants have distinctive short, robust

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s, and spread this way into the surrounding area.

Distribution and habitat

This species is endemic to the eastern parts of the Western Cape Province,

. Its range extends into the

Little Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi-desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ext ...

, as far west as the Robertson Karoo. Its ecological preference is shrubby, mountainous

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 ...

and renosterveld vegetation, usually growing in humus soils.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5762373 subulatoides Renosterveld Taxa named by N. E. Brown Taxa named by Adrian Hardy Haworth