Metalasia muricata, commonly known as white bristle bush or blombos, is a hardy virgate or twiggy shrub with honey-scented flowers usually 2–4 m tall, woody with a rounded crown.

It is native to the Cape Provinces of South Africa,[1] where it is an important component of the coastal and mountain fynbos regions.

It is encountered in a number of forms in its extended distribution, some of which are tolerant of frost, wind and poor sandy soils.

The leaves of Metalasia muricata are some 6 mm long, in tufts or fascicled, closely packed about the stem, acicular or needle-like, sharp-tipped, greenish-grey and may be either glabrous or woolly.

Flowers range from white to pink or purple, are bisexual, and produce fruits or cypselae which in this genus are ribbed nutlets with bristly pappi.