''Serruria cyanoides'', the Wynberg spiderhead, is a flower-bearing shrub that belongs to the genus ''

Serruria ''Serruria'', or spiderhead is a genus of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae, endemic to South Africa. Names ''Serruria'' was named in honor of , a professor of botany at the Utrecht University early in the eighteenth century. It is cal ...

'' and forms part of the

fynbos Fynbos (; , ) is a small belt of natural shrubland or heathland vegetation located in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces of South Africa. The area is predominantly coastal and mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The fynbos ...

Background

The plant is native to the

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 ...

, it has always been found on the

Cape Flats The Cape Flats () is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lies within the larger geo ...

and

Cape Peninsula The Cape Peninsula () of South Africa is a generally mountainous peninsula that juts out into the Atlantic Ocean at the south-western extremity of the African continent. At the southern end of the peninsula are Cape Point and the Cape of Good ...

but currently there are only two populations at

Fish Hoek Fish Hoek (, meaning either Fish Corner or Fish Glen) is a coastal suburb of Cape Town at the eastern end of the Fish Hoek Valley on the False Bay side of the Cape Peninsula in the Western Cape, South Africa. Previously a separate municipality, Fi ...

and the

Karbonkelberg Karbonkelberg is a small peak forming part of the Table Mountain National Park in Cape Town, South Africa. Geography It forms a prominent landmark overlooking the harbour at Hout Bay. An unusual feature is that sand has been blown up it by the ...

Hout Bay Hout Bay (, meaning "Wood Bay") is a seaside suburb of Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated in a valley on the Atlantic seaboard of the Cape Peninsula, twenty kilometres south of the Central business district of ...

. The shrub is erect and grows only 50 cm tall and bears flowers from July to October. Fire destroys the plant but the seeds survive. Two months after flowering, the fruit falls off and ants disperse the seeds. They store the seeds in their nests. The plant is unisexual. Pollination takes place through the action of insects. The plant grows in sandy soil at altitudes of 0–150 m.

References

cyanoides Endemic flora of the Cape Provinces Fynbos {{Proteaceae-stub