Conical Pagoda

Mimetes capitulatus is an evergreen, rounded shrub of about 2 m (7 ft) high that develops from a single trunk, and has a densely branched crown. Older specimens also develop several, usually unbranched straggling shoots. The branches are 5–8 mm (0.20–0.32 in) thick and are initially covered with greyish felty hairs that wear off later on. The leaves are set alternately along the branches, slightly overlapping at an upward angle. They lack stipules and leaf stalks, are lance- to egg-shaped in outline, 2–3.5 cm (0.8–1.4 in) long and ¾–2 cm (0.3–0.8 in) wide, with an entire margin ending sharply pointy in one thickened tip. The surface is initially covered in rough felty hairs, which eventually are lost. The inflorescence is broadly cylinder-shaped, 6–10 cm (2.3–4 in) long and 6–8 cm (2.3-3.3 in) in diameter, topped by more or less upright leaves not unlike all other leaves. In the axils of the higher leaves are flower heads each containing ten to thirteen (most frequently eleven) flowers, the subtending leaves broadly oval, 2.5–4 cm (1–1¾ in) long and 1.5–2 (0.7–0.8 in) broad, set with rough hairs, and with a row of rough hairs along the margin, sometimes flushed reddish. …

The five known populations of the conical pagoda can be found in the Kogelberg, Kleinrivier and Groenland Mountains, ranges adjacent or at least near the sea, at 600–1200 m (2000–4000 ft) altitude. The average annual precipitation is about 1500 mm (60 in) mostly falling during the southern winter. Here, it grows on permanently moist, sometimes outright swampy peaty soils, near the ridge or peak on the cool, southeastern slope in a vegetation that also contains the Restionid Elegia mucronata, Klattia partita, and the Bruniaceae species Berzelia ecklonii and Brunia alopecuroides. In these locations clouds condensate and cause precipitation during the otherwise dry summer months. The species is pollinated by birds, mostly the malachite sunbird Nectarinia famosa, southern double-collared sunbird Cinnyris chalybeus and orange-breasted sunbird Anthobaphes violacea. It flowers from mid June to November, with a peak in August, and produces copious amounts of nectar. The fruits ripen one at a time, two to six months after flowering and fall to the ground. They are collected by native ants that carry the fruits to their underground nest, where the ants bread is eaten and the seeds remain protected. The seeds germinate after an overhead fieldfire. Plants do not survive fires.