Names and synonyms

Oedera genistifolia (L.) Anderberg & Bremer
= Relhania genistifolia (L.) L'Herit.
=Athanasia genistifolia Linnaeus
=Eclopes genistaefolia (L.) DC.
=Relhania genistaefolia (L.) L'Herit. var a. angustifolia Harvey
=Relhania microphylla L'Heritier
=Relhania passerinoides L'Heritier
=Polychaetia passerinoides (L'Herit.)DC. (excl. descr. = Geigeria ornativa O. Hoffm.)
=Geigeria passerinoides (L'Herit.) Harv. (excl. descr. = Geigeria ornativa O. Hoffm.)
=Eclopes punctata Cassini
=Eclopes viscida sensu Less, (non Gaertn. 1791 p. 440 = Relhania viscosa L'Herit.)
=Relhania genistaefolia (L.) L'Herit. var. ?. discoidea Harvey

Common names

Kleinperdekaroo, G(h)ombossie, Peperbos-(sie).

Derivation of names

Oedera = after George Christian Oeder (1728-1791), professor of Botany in Copenhagen, author of Flora Danica
genistifolius = Genista (the broom); folium = leaf - with leaves like those in the genus in the Fabaceae

Diagnostic characters

Leaves glandular -punctate
Leaves woolly-hairy along margins and midrib below
Leaf tips often hooked with short mucro
Pappus of scales

Description

Somewhat sticky, strongly scented shrub 0.5 (-0.8) m high. Stems ascending-erect, glabrous or tomentose, leafy, becoming glabrous and nude and marked with leaf-scars. moderately branched, somewhat twiggy. Leaves alternate, erect-spreading-squarrose, sometimes recurved, flat and straight or somewhat irregularly bent, mid-ribbed, linear or oblong, 2-15 x 1-3 mm, glabrous or sparsely pilose mainly marginally and on midrib dorsally, indistinctly glandular-punctate, acute, tips hooked, often somewhat sticky when young. Capitula 3-15 together in dense terminal cymes, about 10 mm diameter and are carried on short stalks. Peduncles 2-10 mm long during flowering. Involucre urn- to cup-shaped, 2-4 mm wide. Involucral bracts 15-40, dry, hard, outer ovate, inner gradually narrower and oblong, innermost narrowly oblong-narrowly obovate and straight or apically somewhat spreading, dorsally and apically gland-dotted, obtuse-rounded. Receptacle convex-conical, paleate. Paleae canaliculate, narrowly spatulate, 3.5-7 mm long, acute. Ray florets 7-15, tube 1.5-3 mm long, glandular; lamina elliptic, 1.5-3.5 x 0.8-1.5 mm. Disc florets 16-35, perfect. Pappus crownlike, of � connate scales, up to 1 mm long. Cypselas triquetrous, oblong, 1.4-2.3 x 0.4-0.7 mm wide, � densely pilose; in disc florets almost terete, glabrous.

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Flowering time

Mainly from August to December.

Distribution

Widespread and quite common from Namaqualand to Eastern Cape, mostly in the Winter rainfall areas, in coastal as well as inland areas.
Known from more than 150 specimens.

Habitat

Abundant in stony, sandy or clayey or limestone-derived soils in a variety of veld types, on the lower slopes of and on flats below the mountain ranges, frequently on N-facing shale slopes.

Notes

Closely allied to O. squarrosa but has linear, spreading leaves, smaller, urn- to cup-shaped capitula, and uniformly light yellowish brown involucral bracts.
O. viscosa is another closely related species. O. genistifolia,  but has thick, very glutinous leaves of and smaller capitula.

References

ANDERBERG, A.A. & BREMER, K. 1991. Parsimony analysis and cladistic reclassification of the Relhania generic group (Asteraceae - Gnaphalieae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 78: 1061-1072.
BREMER, K. 1976. The genus Relhania (Compositae). Opera Botanica 40.
GOLDBLATT, P. & MANNING, J.C. 2000. Cape Plants. A conspectus of the Cape flora of South Africa. Strelitzia 9. SANBI.
HARVEY, W.H. 1865. Compositae in: W.H. Harvey & O.W. Sonder. Flora Capensis 3 (ed. 1). Hodges & Smith, Dublin.
KESTING, D. & CLARKE, H. 2008. Botanical names, what they mean. Wild Flowers of the Cape Peninsula, 3rd revised edition. Friends of Silvermine.
MANNING. J. 2007. Field Guide to Fynbos. Struik Publishers.
MUSTARD, P., COWLING, R. & ALBERTYN, J. 1997. Southern Overberg. South African Wildflower Guide 8. Botanical Society of South Africa.
PHILLIPS.1940. The Flowering Plants of South Africa 20: t. 786.
SMITH, C. A. 1927. Four interesting species of Compositae. Bothalia 2: 360-365.
TRINDER-SMITH, T. 2006. Wild Flowers of Table Mountain National Park. South African Wild Flower Guide 12. Botanical Society of South Africa.
VLOK, J. & SCHUTTE-VLOK, A L. 2010. Plants of the Klein Karoo. Umdaus Press

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