Liparia splendens

Liparia splendens, the mountain dahlia or orange nodding-head and in Afrikaans skaamblom (shy flower), is a resprouting fynbos shrub, often dense, coarse and rounded, reaching heights around 2,5 m.

The orange-yellow flowers are pendulous, clustered densely at stem-tips. About 15 separate flowers form one head with red-brown to purplish bracts between the flowers. Each individual flower has the typical legume family flower or pea-flower structure. It comprises five petals, the standard at the top, two wing petals positioned laterally and the remaining two form the keel, joined at the base around the ten stamens and the style. The wing petals fold around the keel with lobes that dovetail. The plant has a long flowering season, almost all year round, peaking in spring and least in evidence at the end of summer and early autumn.

The small brown, bean-like seeds develop in grey, hairy, dehiscent fruit pods that split open explosively when releasing the seeds.

The species distribution is in the southwest of the Western Cape only. from the Cape Peninsula and the Cape Flats to Albertinia.

The habitat is fynbos and renosterveld slopes and flats in sandstone and granite. The comantha subspecies has a habitat population deemed of least concern, the splendens one's habitat population is considered vulnerable, due to urban development and agriculture (Manning, 2009; Bean and Johns, 2005; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).