10 Stoebe alopecuroides Seeds - Cat's Tail Stoebe - Beautiful Indigenous South African Shrub

Not everyone will recognize members of this genus as belonging to the Asteraceae. There are no showy ray flowers and the white or pink disc flowers are very small. The florets are, however, aggregated into globose or spike-like inflorescences that can be very showy en masse. In a recent revision, the genus was re-defined to include only the species with white or pink disc florets. Plants are erect, prostrate or scrambling, woody shrubs. Leaves are small, often ericoid and twisted and characterized by a woolly-hairy upper surface, a character that is unique to Stoebe and a group of related genera. This characteristic can be used to distinguish this group from species of Helichrysum which are very similar vegetatively. The leaves of Helichrysum are hairy all over or on the lower surface only. Flowerheads are 1-flowered, the florets white or pink, with 5 well-developed, spreading lobes protruding from the involucral bracts. The flowerheads are aggregated into round or spike-like inflorescences at the end of branches. Nectaries are present. Pappus bristles are plumose and present in all species except S. montana and S. schultzii. Although some species are quite rare and are fairly localized, they are not threatened or endangered.

Stoebe alopecuroides commonly known as Katstert Slangbos in Afrikaans and Cat's Tail Stoebe grows into a robust, erect shrub of up to 1.8 meters tall. The branches are very leafy with numerous short side branches. Capitula in thick finger-like terminal spikes of up to 150 mm long and 20 mm in diameter. Florets white. Distributed in the Western Cape up to Matjiesfontein in the north and Uniondale in the east; also in the Eastern Cape as far as Uitenhage, growing on moist mountain fynbos slopes at altitudes of 100-1 200 m and flowering from August to November.

On offer is a pack of 10 Seeds