Aspalathus capensis (Walp.) R.Dahlgren

An erect, rigid, robust shrub, 1-2(-3) m tall. Branches and branchlets thick, robust but brittle, glabrous (pubescent on the very tips and short-shoots); young branches pale, almost white, divided into segments below leaf bases. Axillary short-shoots soon developed. Leaflets linear, 5-10 mm long, terete, carnose, rigid, mucronate (pungent), light green. Inflorescences of 1-3 flowers, on branch tips. Flowers large, fleshy, glabrous except for the pedicel. Bract broadly obovate, entire, flat or slightly convex, 4.5-5.5 x 5-7 mm, glabrous, fused to the pedicel and emerging near the calyx base. Pedicel 4-10 mm, tomentulose. Bracteoles larger than the bract, 5.5-6.5 x 4-5.5 mm. Calyx pale, fleshy, glabrous; lobes circular or ovate-elliptic, 4-6 x 4-6 mm, obtuse or slightly emarginate, ± green. Petals bright yellow, rigid, fleshy, glabrous, with rather long claws. Standard blade, 18.5-20.5 x 16.5-19 mm, the sides slightly recurved at anthesis. Wing blades 16-18 x 8-8.5 mm, with several rows of wrinkles on most parts. Keel blades lunate, glabrous, apically slightly upcurved, obtuse, with indistinct basal pouch. Pistil glabrous, subsessile; ovary elongate; ovules 6-8. Pod 22-26 x 6-7 mm, compressed, glabrous.