Gibbaeum velutinum

With their broad, boat-shaped, yellowish-green leaves, these plants rather look like Glottiphyllums, but the cover of short soft hairs will soon tell you differently. The leaf pairs are very unequal, with the longer leaf up to about 5 cm long.
The flowers are 2-2.5 cm in diameter, usually pink-purple with a darker purple mid-stripe, and appear in late spring (mainly October-November).
In the western Little Karoo (from Barrydale to Muiskraal), the plants are often abundant on shallow clay soils in the shade of bushes.
The species is similar to G. schwantesii which is more robust, does not have its stem embedded in the ground and is much rarer (known from only one locality).
The first three pictures were taken in summer (two days ago), the last one in autumn (13 March 2007).

gibbvelu DSC_1823

gibbvelu DSC_1818

gibbvelu DSC_1819
Close friends with Haworthia mucronata 

gibbschwIMG_1021

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *