Witsenia maura Thunb.

Plants 1-3 m high, ± erect or sprawling in dense vegetation. Stem upright or inclined, simple or with a few branches, leafy part 3-5 mm wide, 10-15 mm diam. near base. Leaves narrowly lanceolate, 100-150 x 4-7 mm, dark green. Inflorescence with 8 to 16 flowers (4 to 8 flower pairs), each pair subtended by 3 to 5 acute bracts at base of each binate rhipidium, each with stalks 2-4 mm long; spathes 35-40 mm long, strongly emarginate, sheathing lower half of tube, floral bracts 2-keeled, 15-18 mm long, concealed by spathes. Flowers pale green below, dark green above shading to blackish at top of tube, tepals blackish in lower half, outer tepals densely villous and yellow in upper half, inner mostly concealed by outer, pale green, yellow and villous at tips where exposed; perianth tube 50-55 mm long, ± 3 mm wide at base, wider above bracts, 6 mm wide at apex, lower half usually filled with nectar; tepals lanceolate, ± erect, closed over stamens, 25-30 mm long, limbs 10-12 mm long, outer tepal limbs velvety-pubescent outside, inner tepals covered by outer except at apex, inner tepals pubescent at tips. Filaments ± 10 mm long; anthers oblong-linear, 5-6 mm long, appressed to inner surface of outer tepals, yellow; pollen yellow. Style extending 2-3 mm from tepals when receptive, later retracting, minutely 3-forked. Capsules narrowly obovoid, 9-12 mm long. Seeds 6-7 mm long, 1 per locule.