Description :

• Shrubs, or shrublets, rarely annuals
• Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, sessile, needle-shaped to lanceolate, very rarely obovate, glandular
• Capitula radiate, mainly solitary and sessile, rarely pedunculate or corymbose, few- to many-flowered
• Involucre ellipsoid, ovoid or campanulate; bracts in ± 5 rows, ovate to linear, sometimes bilobed, sometimes with ovate, terminal appendage
• Receptacle flat or somewhat conical, with linear to broad paleae as long as corolla
• Ray florets female, yellow, marginal; corolla tube with minutely 3-toothed lamina shorter or longer than tube; ovary linear or oblong, sometimes ribbed
• Style slender, with linear, obtuse branches
• Pappus a cup- or crown-like structure or of separate, membranous paleae
• Disc florets bisexual, fertile or sterile; corolla tube widening above, becoming campanulate; lobes short, ovate
• Anthers sagittate or tailed at base; ovary linear, sometimes with 2 ciliate ribs, glabrous to pilose
• Style linear, sometimes swollen at base, branches linear, truncate, rarely rounded
• x = 7 (5)

Nomenclature:

• Relhania L'Hér.
  • L'Héritier de Brutelle: 22, t. 29 (1788)
  • Harvey: 298 (1865)
  • Bremer 27 (1976)
  • Anderberg: 68 (1991)
  • Anderberg: 333 (1994)

Distribution & Notes:

• Southern Africa : Species 13 with 4 subspecies, endemic, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Northern, Western and Eastern Cape