Paddle Fire-Aster

Mairia coriacea is a geophytic perennial herb of about 12 cm (4+4⁄5 in) high, with dense, silky, orange brown hairs on its growing points. It has a rizome with succulent, dark brown to black roots of up to about 20 cm (8 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) thick. It usually has up to about six leathery, bright lime-green leaves per growing point, which are seated or have a leaf stalk of up to 10 cm (4 in) long, and are flat or curve downwards. The leaf blade is mostly inverted egg-shaped, sometimes elliptic or broadly elliptic, 6–23 cm (2+2⁄5–9 in) long and 3–21 cm (1+1⁄5–8+1⁄5 in) wide. The leaf's tips vary from blunt to pointy, the thickened margins are usually entire or may have some broad teeth towards the tip. The leaves each have mostly five, slightly curved main veins, interconnected by a net of distinct secundairy veins. The leaf surfaces are variably hairy: hairless on both surfaces or the upper surface woolly to later hairless and sparsely to densely woolly on the lower surface, but the leaf surface always remains visible through the coating of hair. Flowering usually occurs after a fire, so when flowers stalks emerge, the leaves will mostly be burnt off or scorched. …

Mairia coriacea can only be found in the wild in the southwest of the Western Cape province of South Africa, where it grows on the Cape Peninsula and from the Kogelberg along the coast to the delta of the Breede River. It grows in fynbos vegetations on rocky slopes in the mountains along the coast, or on sandy flats at the foot of limestone hills.