''Spatalla prolifera'', the palmiet spoon, is a flower-bearing shrub that belongs to the genus ''

Spatalla ''Spatalla'' is a genus containing 20 species of flowering plants, commonly known as "spoons", in the family Proteaceae. The genus is endemic to the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa where it is associated with fynbos habitats. The species ...

'' and forms part of the fynbos. The plant is native to 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 ...

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 count ...

Description

The shrub grows upright and grows to tall and flowers from September to December. The plant dies after a fire but the seeds survive. The plant is

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, wh ...

and

pollinated by insects Entomophily or insect pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen of plants, especially but not only of flowering plants, is distributed by insects. Flowers pollinated by insects typically advertise themselves with bright colours, some ...

. Two months after the plant has flowered, the ripe seeds fall to the ground where they are spread by ants.

Distribution and habitat

The plant occurs in the Hottentots-Holland Mountains and

Kleinmond Mountains Kleinmond is a small coastal town in the Overberg region of the Western Cape province, South Africa. It is situated inside a UNESCO-declared biosphere about 90 km east of Cape Town between Betty's Bay and Hermanus. The town's name, mea ...

along the

Palmiet ''Prionium serratum'', the palmiet, is a robust, evergreen, semiaquatic, rhizomatous flowering plant growing to in height. It is the only species in the genus ''Prionium'', and is endemic to South Africa (Cape Province and KwaZulu-Natal). Some ...

and

Steenbras River ''Lithognathus'' is ''a'' marine fish genus in the family Sparidae, members of which are commonly known as steenbras. They are primarily found in coastal regions in Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia and Angola), but ''L. mormyrus'' also occ ...

. It grows in swampy soil, river banks and wetlands at altitudes of

References

*http://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=805-22 *http://biodiversityexplorer.info/plants/proteaceae/spatalla_prolifera.htm *https://www.proteaatlas.org.za/spoon.htm *https://www.proteaatlas.org.za/PROTEA_ATLAS_main_part2.pdf bl 86 prolifera {{Improve categories, date=February 2022