Eriocaulon africanum Hochst.

Tufted perennial. Stems corm-like or up to 5 cm long. Leaves linear to lanceolate, (1.5-)3-10 (-35) cm long, 2-5 mm wide, glabrous, rather broad at the base, either short, curved and sword-like with subacute tips, or long and ribbon-like tapering to subacute tips. Scapes usually solitary, erect and bearing a flowering head, or sometimes 1 or more scapes bend downward and develop bulbils instead of flowers; bulbils may root within the head or be dispersed as units; flowering scapes, erect, stout, (8-)15-40 cm long, 1-2 mm in diameter, 6-to 10-ribbed; sheaths loose, 5-10 cm long, longer or shorter than the leaves, obliquely spathe-like at the mouth, often splitting and becoming 2-to 4-or more-lobed. Heads almost spherical, 4-9 (-11) mm in diameter, black with glistening white hairs; receptacle glabrous. Involucral bracts shorter than the heads, almost circular, up to 2.7 mm long, yellowish, paper-like, glabrous and glistening, becoming reflexed in fruit. Floral bracts oblanceolate-oblong, 2.8-3.4 mm long, blackish or brown, thin, dry, glabrous or the inner ones with white papillae at the tip. Flowers 1.7-2.5 mm long. Male flowers: sepals 3, united for most of their length or almost free, ±1.5 mm long, black, glabrous or with white hairs at the tips; petals 3, subequal, obovate, the longest up to 1.5 mm long, glandular and densely white papillate; anthers creamy-white. Female flowers' sepals 3, free, unequal, the lateral ones boat-shaped and curved but not keeled, 1.8-2.1 mm long, ventral sepal not curved, 1.2-1.4 mm long, all sepals glabrous to woolly with white hairs along the centre back, the margins sometimes erase or coarsely toothed; petals 3, linear-spatulate, the median slightly larger, 2-2.3 mm long, glandular and with white hairs at the tip. Seeds wide-ellipsoid, 0.6-0.7 mm long, very pale brown and translucent; seed coat almost smooth with a faint net-like pattern.