Macledium spinosum is a variable species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, that is endemic to the southern Cape regions of South Africa.[1]
A low, compact, spreading shrub, reaching a maximum of 50 cm in height. The leaves are small (15 x 5mm), spiny, with a grey, velvet leaf-surface.
The wide (20 mm) protea-like flowerheads appear in Spring and Summer, and range in colour from white to purple.[2] [3]
A closely related species, Macledium relhanioides, occurs in similar areas in the western Little Karoo and Overberg, but tends to be confined to quartzitic outcrops and quartz-fields.
Macledium relhanioides differs by having longer leaves (20 mm) and smaller flowerheads (10 mm) that have prominent pink, spiny bracts (but only rudimentary ray-florets).
This species can be found from Worcester in the west, eastwards through the Little Karoo and Overberg regions, as far east as Somerset East.
It is most common in clay-rich, shale-derived soils, in Renosterveld and Succulent Karoo vegetation types.