Evergreen, rhizomatous perennials, 0.8 m – 1 m high, solitary or growing in clumps. Stem: subterete, with suberect branches borne at lower fertile nodes; lateral flower clusters sessile; branches short, crowded. Leaves: several, linear, 7 mm – 14 mm wide, firm and fibrotic. Flower clusters: many, crowded, upper clusters mostly sessile but lower nodes with short to long branches; mostly with two to four flowers in each cluster; spathes and bracts rusty brown, 8 mm –10 mm long, thinner and somewhat translucent near edges, obtuse, glabrous, becoming slightly crinkled and torn with age. Flowers: subsessile, blue; tepals obovate, ± 15 mm long. Stamens: with filaments ± 4 mm long; anthers ± 4.5 mm long. Style: ± 7 mm long, minutely three-notched at apex. Capsules: oblong in outline, narrowly three winged, 11 mm – 14 mm long. Seeds: lamellate, kidney shaped, mostly two per locule, margins papillate. Flowering time: mainly November and December, sometimes in October (Figure 1).

Scattered along the southern coastal mountains of the Western and Eastern Cape, where it has been recorded from the Langeberg between Heidelberg and Riversdale, the Outeniqua Mountains above George, the Tsitsikamma mountains near Clarkson, and the Baviaanskloof Mountains at Loerie (Figure 2). The species occurs on stony sandstone slopes in fynbos, mainly at an altitude from 400 m a.s.l. to 600 m a.s.l., and flowers primarily after fire.

Aristea rufobracteata is broadly similar to A. capitata in its tall stature, often densely columnar flowering axis and relatively short capsules (11 mm – 14 mm long). The flowering stem is branched but the branches are usually fairly short (sometimes up to 150 mm long) and erect or suberect. The individual flower clusters are sessile or subsessile and the inflorescence spathes and floral bracts are rusty brown, thinner and slightly paler toward the margins; the spathes are usually obtuse but are sometimes more or less acute (Figure 3a).

The reddish brown spathes and bracts differ substantially from those of A. capitata, which are pale and silvery translucent, with a dark brown central keel extending upwards as an attenuate, cusp-like tip (Figure 3b). Aristea capitata is centred on the Cape Peninsula, extending eastwards to the Riviersonderend Mountains and northwards to the Piketberg, thus some distance to the west of the nearest station for A. rufobracteata.

Most collections of A. bakeri have a rather open, panicle-like inflorescence with well-developed secondary and sometimes even tertiary branches, which are occasionally suberect. The rust-coloured bracts are usually minutely hairy to scabrid beneath and always have evident, narrow, semitransparent margins. Aristea bakeri extends from the Cape Peninsula in the west to Uitenhage in the east, thus overlapping considerably with A. rufobracteata in the eastern half of its range, and both have been recorded in the mountains above George.

Capsules are particularly important in distinguishing species of section Racemosae (Goldblatt & Manning 1997). Aristea rufobracteata has capsules 11 mm – 14 mm long, thus shorter than most collections of A. bakeri, in which they are typically 18 mm – 30 mm long. The seeds are lamellate and irregularly kidney shaped, with brown papillae along the margins, like those of A. bakeri and its allies, Aristea juncifolia Baker and Aristea racemosa Baker. The margins of the seeds in A. capitata are smooth. Plants illustrated under the name A. capitata in Curtis's Botanical Magazine (Ker Gawler 1802) are almost certainly A. rufobracteata.

The important taxonomic differences amongst the three species are summarised in Table 1.

Aristea rufobracteata is relatively widely distributed and occurs in several conservation areas. There are no immediate threats.

WESTERN CAPE.—3320 (Montagu): Grootvadersbos, lower slopes of mountains, (–DD), 3 Dec. 1958, G.J. Lewis 5233 (NBG). 3321 (Ladismith): Riversdale, between the Little Vet river and Kampsheberg, (–CC), [without date], Burchell 6879 (K); Corente River Farm, (–CC), Aug. 1909 [without day], Muir sub Galpin 5359 (PRE). 3322 (Oudtshoorn): Montagu Pass, south slopes (–CD), 4 Nov. 1928, Hutchinson 1213 (BOL, K); Montagu Pass, 2000 ft [600 m], (–CD), 4 Feb. 1951, Hodge 8541 (K); between Oudtshoorn and George, (–CD), 14 Nov. 1942, Chippindall s.n. (K, PRE); George, below the power station, (–CD), 5 Nov. 1928, J.B. Gillett 2096 (NBG); mountains north of George Town [George], (–CD), [without date], Burchell 6011 (K); slopes of Cradockberg, 1600 ft [490 m], (–CD), Nov. 1928 [without day], Fourcade 4095 (BOL, K); George, Tierkop, 1600 ft [490 m], (–DC), 11 Nov. 1976, Bond W653 (PRE); Knysna, Buffelsnek, 2000 ft [600 m], (–DC), Oct. 1923 [without day], Phillips 151 (BOL, PRE); Knysna, Van der Waltshoek, (–DC), 20 Oct. 1922, Keet 998 (PRE); Knysna, Spitskop, (–DC), 4 Nov. 1970, Geldenhuys 166 (PRE).

EASTERN CAPE.—3325 (Port Elizabeth): Humansdorp, Loerie Forest Reserve, (–CC), 29 Jan. 1934, W. Long 66 (NBG).