Hereroa aspera exhibiting

Prolific yellow flowering can be expected from a mature, spreading Hereroa aspera plant in years of good rain and moderately hot summers. Numerous flowers on short pedicels exceed the erect leaf-tips, not by much and may even cover them for a short while during the year.

The plants are well suited to full sun on open ground in their mainly Little Karoo distribution range.

Some other vygies thrive in partial shade, sheltered under bushes, but the bright vygie flowers beckon pollinators effectively when they are not hidden.

Hereroa plants are not browsed (or grazed, given their lack of height), but hungry animals may trample them in search of something more palatable when fodder ir scarce, and the veld’s carrying capacity exceeded.

The photo was taken on the Minwater farm near Oudtshoorn (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Smith, et al, 1998; iNaturalist).