Description :

• Densely branched shrublets, with erect or spreading reddish stems
• Leaves opposite, subequal, somewhat united at base, triquetrous to trigonous, short, up to ± 20 mm long and 13 mm broad, mostly with prominently dentate keel and margins (red-toothed in one species), greyish green to pale blue waxy leaves
• Flowers solitary or in rich cymes, mostly on bibracteate peduncles, rarely sessile, up to ± 15 mm in diameter; remaining open; almond-scented
• Sepals 5
• Petals not much more than 1-seriate, white to pink
• Stamens and short staminodes collected into a cone, both papillate near base
• Nectary of 5 ± separate, dark green, crenulate glands
• Ovary convex to conical on top; placentas parietal; stigmas 5, concealed by stamens
• Fruit a 5-locular capsule, of Lampranthus type; grey to brown; expanding keels diverging from base, more than half as long as valves; valve wings very broad and rectangular; covering membranes with inconspicuous closing ledges at distal ends; closing devices 0, but placenta ending in a tiny to small knob
• Seeds ovoid, verrucose, brown
• x = 9

• Flowering mid-winter to mid-summer

• Distinguishing characters :
  • Small shrubs with greyish green, waxy, sometimes dentate leaves
  • Flowers scented
  • Stamens and staminodes collected into a cone

Nomenclature:

• Oscularia Schwantes
  • Schwantes: 187 (1927)
  • Herre: 244 (1971)
  • Glen: 693 (1980)
  • Smith et al.: 336 (1998)
  • Hartmann: 44 (1998)

Distribution & Notes:

• Southern Africa : Species 23, typically in the fynbos vegetation of the Western Cape, extending slightly into the Northern Cape, a single species: Oscularia deltoides (L.) Schwantes, has been collected just east of Albertinia in the Western Cape