English: Robertson vexator.
Genus: 4 species.
Region: Western Cape province, South Africa.
Habitat: on the south and southwestern slopes of the Langeberg near Klaasvoogds era Robertson; on heavy reddish clay; altitude of 400 to 900 m; vegetation types called Breede Shale Fynbos and renosterveld.
Ecology: critically endangered, limited distribution, small population.
BotanyEvergreen, upright shrub: ± 150 cm high; rounded crown.
Stem: single main stem; branches at approximately right angles.
Leaves: alternate; entire, long inverted, egg-shaped, gully-shaped, bluish grey, leathery, line-shaped to very narrowly spade-shaped; ± 6 cm, 2–3 mm wide; thickened, reddish, blunt tip.
Inflorescence: solitary, globular flower heads at the end of the branches, with ± 40 flowers.
Flowers: symmetrical; 4-merous; scented, pink to carmine; flattened egg- to globe-shaped, about 6–8 mm; extended styles with a thickened tip; involucre of two to three lose whorls of pointy, lance-shaped bracts of 8–10 mm long, and 2–3 mm, covered with thick woolly hairs; anthers are narrowly lance-shaped to linear, with the connecting tissue black and lengthened at the tip; style straight, hairless, carmine-coloured of 1 to 2 cm long, with conspicuous bulge at its base, with tip thickened, called pollen presenter, hoof-shaped, about 2 mm long, with a slight ring-like thickening where it merges with the style; ovary is subtended by four, opaque, thread- to awl-shaped scales of about 2 mm long; flowering from August to September.
Fruit: oval, one-seeded; powdery hairy or hairless, 8 to 10 mm long and about 4 mm wide, with a beak at the top end. blunt and wrinkled at its base.
Pollination: by insects.
Dispersion: by ants.
Germination: after overhead fire and subsequent rains.