Ischyrolepis subverticilsh

A tufted reed-like plant with elegant foliage. Cane like stems with soft green whorls of foliage along the stem. Silver seeds are good for floral work. Part shade or sun. Hardy to cold and dry. As a garden plant it is a low maintenance, elegant foliage plant. It has a very distinctive growth form with cane-like stems, which have soft green whorls of modified branches at each node. Male and female flowers are produced on separate plants, the female flowers are white, the male flowers greenish-yellow and quite insignificant. The pretty silvery seeds ripen in small capsules and it is at this stage that the female plant is at its best for use as cut-foliage, with tall arching stems and nearly black capsules at the end of each dark green whorl of foliage. The flowering time is during March or April, while the main growth flush is from August to January. As all restios, the plants are wind pollinated, although the bees have a few days during the flowering season when they are busy harvesting the pollen from the male plants. In nature the plants can be found on Table Mountain sandstone bedrock in mountain valleys in the South Western Cape, from Caledon to Paarl. They typically occur along streamlines or along the margins of the riverine scrub-forest, where they receive some groundwater throughout the year. This restio has two survival mechanisms for existence in the fire-prone fynbos. It produces a large amount of viable seeds to be stored in the soil and it coppices from the rhizome or base after a fire.