About Serruria aitonii R.Br.
Serruria aitonii, commonly called the marshmallow spiderhead, is a flowering shrub in the genus Serruria and a member of the fynbos vegetation type. It is native to the Western Cape province of South Africa, where its natural range extends from the Cederberg and Sandveld regions to the Groot-Winterhoek Mountains and Piketberg. This round-growing shrub reaches a mature height of 1.0 meter, and it produces flowers from July to November each year. Wildfires kill the adult plant, but its seeds are able to survive fire events. Two months after flowering finishes, the fruit drops off the plant, and ants disperse the seeds by storing them in their nests. Serruria aitonii is a unisexual plant, and pollination of its flowers is carried out by insects. It grows in mountainous habitat in rocky sandstone soils at elevations between 600 and 900 meters. In Afrikaans, the species is called malvalekker-spinnekopbos.
