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Red Stem Spiderhead

Serruria rubricaulis

Also called Redstem Spiderhead

Serruria rubricaulis is a small, upright fynbos shrub from the Western Cape of South Africa, growing about 30 cm tall with pink flowers from July to November. It needs sun, excellent drainage and acidic soil, and it resprouts after fire.

Family
Proteaceae (Protea family)
Grows as
Shrub
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly once established; let the soil dry out between waterings and avoid waterlogging.
Soil
Acidic, well-drained, low-nutrient sandy or clay-based mix; fynbos-type soil.
Temperature
Mild Mediterranean-type conditions; tolerates about -5 °C to 30 °C; protect from hard frost.
How easy
Hard
Native range
SW. Cape Prov.
Climate
subtropical

About

Serruria rubricaulis, the red-stem spiderhead, is a flowering shrub that belongs to the genus Serruria and forms part of the fynbos. The plant is endemic to the Western Cape and occurs from the Kleinrivierberge to the Elim plain and seaward. The shrub is small, upright and grows only 30 cm tall and flowers from July to November.

The plant sprouts again after a fire. Two months after flowering, the fruit falls and ants disperse the seeds. They store the seeds in their nests. The plant is unisexual. Pollination takes place through the action of insects. The plant grows in clay and acid soil at elevations of 20 – 100 m.

Other Serruria plants

Common Rootstock Spiderhead · Kleinmond Spiderhead · Strawberry Spiderhead · Marshmallow Spiderhead · Stately Spiderhead · Acorn Spiderhead · Agulhas Spiderhead · Bottlebrush Spiderhead · Shiny Spiderhead · Lost Spiderhead · Wavy Spiderhead · Wynberg Spiderhead

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Serruria rubricaulis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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