• The Spiderheads belong to the Protea family.
• The Rondevlei Spiderhead (“var. foeniculacea”) is a special variety of a plant called the Strawberry Spiderhead (Serruria aemula). It grows naturally at Rondevlei Nature Reserve.
• The plants are low, sprawling shrubs.
• The leaves are soft and needle-like.
• It flowers from winter to spring. The flower heads are pink and look like small, loose tassels.

• The Strawberry Spiderhead is a Critically Endangered plant that is endemic to Cape Town.
• The Strawberry Spiderhead used to be very common in Sand Fynbos from Milnerton to Rondebosch.
• Today fewer than 1000 Strawberry Spiderhead plants survive, mainly on road verges and under power lines. The Rondevlei Spiderhead now grows only at Rondevlei.
• The Strawberry Spiderhead is threatened because most of its natural habitat has been developed for housing.

• People thought that the Rondevlei variety of the Strawberry Spiderhead was extinct. But in 1987, Howard Langley, who was then the manager of Rondevlei Nature Reserve found a few plants just outside the reserve.
• He moved the plants into the reserve and sent some cuttings to Kirstenbosch to be propagated.
• In 1994 nearly 350 plants were planted at Rondevlei and 300 at Kirstenbosch. Unfortunately all the Kirstenbosch plants died. Today Rondevlei is the only place in the world where you can see this plant.

• Flats Silkypuff (Diastella proteoides)
• Cape Flats Conebush (Leucadendron levisanus)

Find these two Critically Endangered members of the Protea family on the poster in Module 1

You can read more about these two plants on the following websites:

• Protea Atlas website: www.sanbi.org/protea
• PlantzAfrica website: www.plantzafrica.com: Go to Plants of South Africa and search alphabetically.

Woody shrubs like Proteas are especially sensitive to urban development because they grow slowly and are killed by frequent fires, trampling, mowing and invasive alien acacias.