Region: South Africa and Namibia.
Botany: leaves papery sheath in which the new pairs of leaves are held before rains; these leaf-pairs alternate consecutively between two different types of leaf-growth (heterophylly) and during the exceptionally hot summer they remain inactive in a dry sheath. When fused together into a cone-shaped corpuscle, this leaf pair is referred to as the plant's "mitre", and this is the origin of the genus name. The two separate leaves of the free leaf-pair are rounded-triangular to tongue-shaped. The fused leaf-pair forms a cone-shaped to cylindrical corpuscle, which bears two smaller ear-like anthers at the top. This fused corpuscle dries out in the plant's dormancy period, eventually becoming a papery sheath in which the new (separate) leaf-pair forms.
Taxonomy: closely related to Monilaria, Meyerophytum.
need deep well-drained sandy soil, sufficient sun exposure; slow growing.