Aspalathus araneosa

Aspalathus araneosa, in Afrikaans known as the molbossie (little mole bush), is a sparsely branched, straggling shrublet reaching 70 cm in height.

The species distribution in the far southwest of the Western Cape is limited to the Cape Peninsula and as far inland as Paarl and Caledon. The photo was taken in Jonkershoek near Stellenbosch.

The habitat is lower fynbos slopes on sandstone. The species is considered to be vulnerable in its habitat early in the twenty first century, due to urban expansion, farming and invasion by alien vegetation (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; Kidd, 1983; JSTOR; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).