July 2018 - enjoysucculents

Gibbaeum pilosulum

Although in several species of Gibbaeums the leaves have a velvety cover, G. pilosulum is the only one with long, erect hairs. Apart from this, the species is very similar to G. nuciforme, which sometimes grows less than a kilometre away.

The plants form compact mats to 13 cm in diameter, embedded in the ground. There are up to 10 leaf pairs, which are united and form egg-shaped, green to yellowish green bodies 0.5- 2 cm across with a short fissure at the tip.
The flowers are 1.2 – 1.6 cm in diameter and bright pink to purple; they appear in July-August.

Found in the western Little Karoo (Ladismith-Barrydale area), usually in quartz patches together with G. heathii.

Aloe millotii

This attractive and easy to recognize species is only known from Tanjana Vohimena (Cap Ste. Marie), Madagascar’s southernmost point.
It grows here in full sunshine or partial shade in xerophytic bush on limestone, exposed to strong and almost continuous winds.

The plants are creeping with raised tips or climbing, with branches 20-25 cm long (up to 50 cm when supported by bushes).
When young, the leaves are arranged in two vertical rows on opposite sides of the stem (spiralling with age); they are horizontally spreading but curved back in the upper third, 6-10 cm long and 0.7-0.9 cm wide.
The scarlet to yellow flowers are to 2.2 cm long.

The last two pictures were taken in cultivation (scans from old slides).

Delosperma peersii

Plants of this species form small shrubs up to 50 cm tall with bright green leaves which are triangular in cross section and about 1.5 cm long, spreading with a reddish, recurved tip.
The flowers are 1.5-2 cm in diameter, white to pink, often with 3 together; they appear from spring to summer.

The species does not occur in many places, but is sometimes abundant in loamy soils from just west of Oudtshoorn to Willowmore.
The last picture was taken on the back road from Montagu and Anysberg. It seems to me that the plants in this population have all the typical characteristics of D. peersii, so the species may be more widely distributed than is recorded.

Brianhuntleya purpureostyla

These plants are either tufted or forming long runners.
The trigonous leaves are 3-6.5 cm long and their margins and keel have tiny teeth near the tip.
In June-July the flowers appear; they are solitary, about 3 cm in diameter, on 2-4 cm long stalks; the petals are pink to white with pinkish-purple central vein and sides.
As in the other two species in the genus (see also B. intrusa), the flowers turn into almost globular tumble fruits, lying on the ground and facing upwards.
The plants occur on stony slopes in the area between McGregor, Swellendam and Montagu.

Since its description as a Mesembryanthemum in 1920, the species has been placed in Erepsia, Ruschia, Acrodon and Cerochlamys.
If you are interested in the vagaries of its taxonomic history, search the Web for “A Gordion knot in Ruschioideae (Aizoaceae): Acrodon and Brianhuntleya in an attempt to disentangle the confusion” by Heidrun Hartmann and Ingeborg Niesler in Bradleya 30/2012, p. 33-60.