Longstalk Spiderhead

Serruria elongata is a small, hairless shrub of 1–1½ m (3½–5 ft) high with upright or rising stems. Its leaves are arranged in what appears to be a whorl at the base of the inflorescence stalk, are 5–12+1⁄2 cm (2.0–4.9 in) long twice or more feather-shaped divided in the upper half to third, with about sixty segments, hairless or young leaves sometimes felty. The highest order segments are about 1 mm (0.039 in) thick, cylinder-shaped with a blunt tip that carries a pointy extension of the midrib. Each stalk carries five to twenty five flower heads, arranged like a panicle or corymb on the long common inflorescence stalk, extending far above the leaves. The inflorescence stalk is hairless and 15–30 cm (6–12 in) long. The primary branches of the inflorescence stalk are up to about 6 cm (2+1⁄4 in) in length and mostly carry several heads, each of which is subtended by a lance-shaped bract of 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) long, with a pointy or pointed tip (or acute or acuminate). The stalks that carry the individual flower heads are 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long, hairless, and lack or have a very small bract. Flower heads are about 1½ cm (0.6 in) across. The hairless bract that subtends the individual flower is purplish in colour, about 6 mm (0.24 in) long and 3 mm (0.12 in) wide, and consists of a roundish body from which a thick midrib extends in a long, stretched tip. …

The long-stalk spiderhead can be found in Du Toitskloof, between Paarl and Worcester in the northwest to the neighbourhood of Cape Agulhas in the southeast. It grows at 100–650 metres (330–2,130 ft) elevation in fynbos vegetation on sandy soils that have been formed by the weathering of acid sandstones. The flowers were observed to produce a strong sweet scent, reminiscent of jasmine, late in the afternoon. No smell has been noted earlier during daylight hours. The sweet scent near dusk suggests the species may be pollinated by moths. The fruits are collected by ants and the seeds remain dormant until a spring that follows a summer bushfire.