page_title: Struthiola striata
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Struthiola striata / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: lateral view of a flower of Struthiola striata
context_page_description: Struthiola striata is a rounded, heather-like shrub of up to 1.5 m high that is assigned to the Thymelaeaceae family. It has small assending leaves on long straight branches, with cream, soft yellow or pinkish flowers in spikes, each of which consist of a tube of about 1 cm long with 4 oval sepal lobes and 4 yellow alternating petal-like scales. It is sometimes called ribbed capespray or featherhead in English and roemenaggie, katstertjie or veërtjie in Afrikaans. It grows on coastal flats and foothills in the Western Cape province of South Africa.
context_section_description: Roemenaggie is a rounded shrub of up to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) high that emerges from a single trunk from the ground. The branches are initially covered in soft hairs pressed firmly to the surface, but become hairless when aging.
  The leaves are in pairs opposing each other, more or less upright, overlapping each other, with the blade directly attached to the branche without a leaf stalk. They are oval to lance-shaped, 5–8.5 mm (0.20–0.33 in) long and generally 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) wide, somewhat depressed along the main vein, almost pointed, with a row of hairs pressed to the surface along its rim. When the leaves are young 3 to 5 stripes are visible along the length of the outward facing surface.
  The flowers are seated in the axils of the leaves over a considerable length towards the tip of the branches, an inflorescence type called a spike. The two bracteoles are set opposite each other at the base of the flower, awl-shaped, about 2.5 mm (0.098 in) long, with a regular row of hairs along the margin and a blunt tip ending in a tuft of hairs. The calyx is cream-coloured, with at its base a cylindrical tube of about 1 cm (0.39 in) long that is covered on the outside with soft hairs pressed against its surface and at its top 4 oval protracted, almost pointy lobes of 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) long and 1.5–2.5 mm (0.059–0.098 in) wide, hairless but for a tuft of hairs at the tips of the outer pair. Four yellow, elliptic, fleshy, petal-like scales are implanted above and alternating with the sepal lobes, and are surrounded by stiff hairs that may be shorter or longer than the scales. About 1 mm (0.039 in) below the mouth of the tube sits on whorl of four seated stamens, that have a reddish wart at their tips. The ovary is egg-shaped, hairless and about 1 mm long, and is topped by a style of about 8 mm (0.31 in) long and ends in a brush-like stigma.
caption: Sideview of the flower
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