Pagoda Bush

Description:

Mimetes fimbriifolius is a beautiful rounded tree that was once common on Table Mountain, but its numbers have been greatly depleted by harvesting for fire wood since the eighteenth century. It is endemic to the Cape Peninsula, and good populations of this species continue to survive on the southern Peninsula especially at Silvermine and at Cape Point. At maturity Mimetes fimbriifolius develops into a stout, densely branched, wide-spreading tree up to 4 m tall and 5 m in diameter. It produces a thick, corky trunk between 25 and 60 cm in diameter which branches about half a metre above soil level. The branches are stout, stocky and repeatedly divide to produce interlocking branchlets to form a dense, rounded crown.

Notes:

Of the world's six floral kingdoms, this is the smallest and richest per area unit.