Aspalathus alopecurus Burch. ex Benth.

An ascending to erect, rarely decumbent, sparingly branched shrub 0.2-0.7 m tall, with ascending, little branched, densely leafy, tail-like branches up to more than 10 mm thick at base. Young branches densely white-woolly or villous. Leaves of long-shoots with prominent leaf base tubercles, leaf bases on distal parts of branches often up to 3 mm long, pubescent, ± woody, stalk-like. Leaflets linear, ± needle-like, 5-15(-18) mm long, 0.2-0.4 mm thick, terete, acuminate or spine-tipped, sometimes straight, rigid and pungent, sometimes weak, flexible and often slightly incurved, with sparse, spreading hairs or glabrescent. Inflorescences unifloral, on lateral short-shoots (in axils of sometimes stalked leaves), distributed in considerable number along the branches. Flowers rather small, not projecting from the dense foliage surrounding them. Bract acicular or subfiliform, rigid or weak, 0.2-3.5 x less than 0.2 mm, sparsely hairy. Pedicel lacking. Bracteoles up to 1.8 mm long, or lacking. Calyx tube sericeous-villous; lobes linear or acicular, weak or rigid, 3.7-6 mm long, ±0.2 mm thick, subterete, almost straight, acuminate, green, glabrous or sparsely sericeous. Petals yellow. Standard blade broadly ovate to circular, 4.7-6.2 x 5-6.5 mm, slightly lobed at the base, rounded-obtuse at apex, densely short-sericeous on the back. Wing blades 3.3-5 x 1.3-2.1 mm, glabrous or with some pubescence on lower parts; with 4 or 5 rows of transverse minute folds on more than half of the outside. Keel blades lunate, 3.3-4.8 x 1.9-2.7 mm, obtuse, sericeous on apical third, with upper margin slightly S-curved. Pistil long-hairy on most parts of the ovary and style base (glabrous below); ovules 2. Pod elliptic-lanceolate, 7.5-10 x 2.7-3.8 mm, short-woolly on most parts, green until almost ripe.