The Brunia family, Bruniaceae, consists of 12 genera and 77 species, endemic to South Africa and concentrated in the south-western Cape. The 12 genera include Audouinia, Berzelia, Brunia, Linconia, Lonchostoma, Mniothamnea, Nebelia, Pseudobaeckea, Raspalia, Staavia, Thamnea and Tittmannia. The genus Brunia is most likely named after a contemporary of Linnaeus, the apothecary, Dr Cornelis Brun, who travelled in Russia and the Levant, although it could also be in commemoration of Dr Alexander Brown, a ship’s surgeon and a collector who worked in the East Indies around 1690.

Brunia paleacea is synonymously known as Berardia paleacea or Nebelia paleacea and is endemic to the Western Cape Province of South Africa. It is commonly known as bergstompie. It forms a rounded evergreen shrub of up to 1 meter. It re-sprouts from a fire resistant root stock. The branches are sparsely hairy. The narrow triangular leaves curve inwards and are 3-6 mm long, almost hairless and held close to the stem. It bears cream coloured flowers that are immersed in a whorl of conspicuous slender white to pink bracts and are up to 7mm across. These are massed in clusters at the tops of stems. Flowering occurs September to February on this South African endemic species.