Aspalathus empetrifolia (R.Dahlgren) R.Dahlgren

A procumbent, branched shrublet with branches up to 0.5 m long or longer, with short, ascending, densely leafy, tomentose branchlets. Long-shoot leaves with axillary leafy short-shoots on the thicker but not on the youngest branchlets. Leaflets linear or sausage-shaped, 0.7-2.5(-3) mm long and 0.4-0.5 mm thick, terete, acute or subobtuse, glabrous or sparsely villous. Flowers smaller than in A. retroflexa and A. amoena, solitary on the branchlet tips. Bract fusiform or linear, 2-2.5 mm long, ±0.6 mm thick, acute, abaxially glabrous, adaxially ciliate. Pedicel shorter than 0.5 mm, white-villous. Bracteoles similar to the bract. Calyx tube ±1.5 mm long, short-tomentose; lobes broadly subulate or lanceolate, 1.3-2.2 x 5-0.7 mm, acute, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Petals yellow or ± purple, with rather short claws. Standard blade 5-5.6 x 3.8-4.4 mm, subglabrous or tomentose on apical parts (less than a quarter) of the back; apex somewhat thickened and sometimes slightly incurved, acute. Wing petals narrowly elliptic, 4.3-5.2 x 1.6-2.3 mm, glabrous, with 3-5 rows of minute folds on basal half. Keel blades lunate, 3.6-4.5(-5) x 2.3-3 mm, upper apical parts squarish, glabrous or with some pubescence on lower-apical marginal parts, upper margin S-curved. Pistil rather long-tomentose on upper parts of ovary and on style base; ovules 2. Pod triangular-ovate, 5.5-6.5 x ±3 mm, rather thick and hard, tomentose on most parts.