Struthiola ciliata (L.) Lam.

 

Struthiola ciliata (L.) Lam.

Family: Thymelaeaceae

Common names: evening gonna, lax gonna, the lady that passes by in the night (Eng.); stroopbossie, juffertjie-roer-by-die-nag, aandgonna, slapgonna (Afr.)

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This pretty ericoid shrublet is common in the Western Cape and makes a rewarding garden plant as it flowers all year round. It produces slender plumes of dainty white flowers that become fragrant at night. The site of scent production differs from that found in most plants.

Struthiola ciliata is a shrub of up to 1.5 m high with flatly pressed back, hairy to woolly branches. Leaves are opposite, linear-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, faintly ribbed beneath with a fringe of hairs along the edge. Flowers are axillary, cream-coloured, pink or reddish, the corolla is covered by very few scattered hairs. The mouth of the corolla tube is surrounded by eight hairy petaloid scales. Stamens are four and are included within the tube just below the mouth of the corolla. Flowers are unscented during the day but begin to emit a strong fragrance at dusk at ± 18h00, and continue to do so throughout the night.

Struthiola ciliata | PlantZAfrica (sanbi.org)

 

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