Blepharis macra (Nees) Vollesen

Extremely spiny cushion-shaped shrub to 50 cm tall; young branches reddish brown, minutely puberulous or sparsely so with bulbous-based white hairs with a fine point. Leaves often greyish, subglabrous to minutely puberulous, hairs as on branches, when older conspicuously white-dotted from the hair-bases; lamina lanceolate to narrowly elliptic or obovate, largest 1-3(-4) x 0.1-0.5(-0.7) cm; margin strongly recurved, all entire or some (rarely all) with l-3(-4) small teeth per side. Spikes 1-3.5 cm long, 2-10-flowered; peduncle 3-8 mm long, minutely puberulous, hairs as on branches, with 4-5 pairs of hard leathery sterile bracts, lower pairs transformed into terete spines, upper pairs with a narrow lamina, upper pair 15-37(-45) mm long, with 1-3 spines per side; fertile bracts with 3 strong rib-like veins from base, sometimes also two extra much weaker veins, without transverse veins, greenish to brownish with often purple spines, not covering flowers, subglabrous to minutely puberulous, hairs as on branches, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, narrowing gradually from base to apex, lower and middle 27-47 (-55) x 2-4 mm, terminal spine 7-17 mm long, on each side with 3-4 often purplish spines of which the longest 4-11 mm. Bracteoles 7-13 mm long, linear-lanceolate with broadened base and pungent mucro, minutely puberulous, hairs as on branches, apical part often purplish. Sepals often tinged purplish, minutely and uniformly puberulous, hairs as on branches (rarely also with longer puberulous hairs), ventral finely ciliate; dorsal 14-19 mm long, 5-7-veined from base, ovate or narrowly so, narrowing gradually to the acute (rarely truncate) mucronate apex, with one mucro or with two additional smaller ones, apical part not becoming scarious; ventral 7-13 mm long, 2-5-veined from base, broadly ovate-elliptic, narrowing gradually to a truncate apex with 2 distinct mucronate teeth 0.5-1.5 mm long; lateral 5-7 mm long, ovate or broadly so. Corolla white or creamy white or pinkish tinged, with brownish veins, 18-25 mm long of which the tube 3-5 mm; limb obovate, 6-12 mm wide, central lobe about as long as wide, retuse to emarginate, not or very slightly constricted at base; callus slightly ribbed; filaments 6-8 mm long, glandular apically, hairy towards base (rarely halfway up) on the inside, hairy or not below anther; appendage 2-4 mm long, shorter or longer than anther, oblong, tip sometimes twisted or recurved; anthers 3-5 mm long. Capsule 6-8 mm long; seed ± 4.5 x 3.5 mm.