Description :

• Sturdy dwarf shrublets, up to 100 mm high with woody stems and 3 or 4 leaf pairs per branch; roots fibrous
• Leaves decussate, fused towards base, ascending, 3-angled, tapering, up to 30 mm long; epidermis smooth
• Flowers solitary, terminal, shortly pedicellate, bracteate
• Sepals 4, unequal
• Petals free towards bases, white
• Staminodes present
• Nectary a series of small teeth in a continuous ring
• Ovary with parietal placentas; stigmas 10, subulate
• Fruit a 10-locular capsule of Lampranthus type, woody, top flat, expanding keels divergent, ending with a small stiff, aristate wing, covering membranes present, closing bodies 0
• Seeds muricate

• Flowering in summer

• Distinguishing characters :
  • Compact shrublets with partially fused leaves
  • Flowers solitary with short pedicels
  • Fruit flat-topped, 10-locular

Nomenclature:

• Zeuktophyllum N.E.Br.
  • Brown: 12 (1927)
  • Herre: 310 (1971)
  • Smith et al.: 288 (1998)

Distribution & Notes:

• Southern Africa : Species 2, on quartzitic slopes in the vicinities of Ladismith and Laingsburg, Western Cape