''Pteronia incana'' ("Asbos" or "ash-bush") is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

, indigenous to the

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is ...

regions of

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 ...

Description

This species has small, light grey, woolly, fragrant leaves, and forms a low, dense bush. Its fragrant leaves have a variety of medicinal uses. The flowerheads appear in Spring, at the tips of the branches. They are solitary, yellow, 15mm wide, with non-sticky yellow-green bracts, and small of coconut.

Relatives

It often co-occurs with its close relatives, ''

Pteronia paniculata ''Pteronia paniculata'' ("Gombos" or "gum-bush") is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, indigenous to the Karoo regions of South Africa. Description This aromatic species has sticky leaves but, unlike some other ''Pteronia'' ...

'' or ''

Pteronia pallens ''Pteronia pallens'' ("Scholtzbos" or "Aasvoëlbos / Witbas") is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, indigenous to the Karoo regions of South Africa. Its natural habitat is dry, rocky slopes. It often cooccurs with its close re ...

'', both of which have distinctive yellow-green leaves. ''

Pteronia glauca ''Pteronia glauca'' ("Geelboegoekaroo") is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, indigenous to the Karoo regions of South Africa. Description A shrub of roughly 60 cm, usually with downwards-drooping outer branches (especia ...

'' ("Boegoekaroo") is a very similar species, which also has light grey leaves. However, unlike ''P.incana'', its outer branches are always down-turned.

Distribution and habitat

The distribution of this species is in the south-western Cape of

. It occurs throughout the

Little Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent i ...

and

Robertson Karoo Robertson Karoo is a semi-arid vegetation type, restricted to sections of the Breede River Valley, Western Cape Province, South Africa. It is a subtype of Karoo, Succulent Karoo (geographically an extension of the "Little Karoo") and is characteri ...

, northwards through the Tanqua and Ceres Karoo, into the

Namaqualand Namaqualand ( Khoikhoi: "Nama-kwa" meaning Nama Khoi people's land) is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa, extending along the west coast over and covering a total area of . It is divided by the lower course of the Orange River int ...

. Its range extends southwards into the

Overberg __NOTOC__ Overberg is a region in South Africa to the east of Cape Town beyond the Hottentots-Holland mountains. It lies along the Western Cape Province's south coast between the Cape Peninsula and the region known as the Garden Route in the e ...

region, especially along the broader region of the

Breede river valley Breede River Valley is a region of Western Cape Province, South Africa known for being the largest fruit and wine producing valley in the Western Cape, as well as South Africa's leading race-horse breeding area. It is part of the Boland borderin ...

. Its range also extends eastwards into the Eastern Cape Province. Its natural habitat is

renosterveld Renosterveld is a term used for one of the major plant communities and vegetation types of the Cape Floristic Region (Cape Floral Kingdom) which is located in southwestern and southeastern South Africa, in southernmost Africa. It is an ecoregion ...

vegetation, growing in deep, silty (often clay-rich) soils that are usually derived from shales.''Pteronia incana''
/ref>

References

incana The Socotra warbler (''Incana incana'') is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Incana''. It is endemic to Socotra. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and subtropical or trop ...

Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces Least concern plants {{Astereae-stub