Didymaotus means twin-flowered and refers to the way in which (usually) a flower is formed on each side of the leaf-pair – a feature which is not found elsewhere in the family.
The plant bodies are single or form compact little clumps with age. Each body consists of leaves up to 4 cm long, broad and thick, usually greyish green or brownish-reddish.
The flowers are up to 4 cm in diameter, usually pink/purple, rarely white. They appear in September-October.
This curious plant is found in only a few localities in the Tanqua and southern Ceres Karoo, almost always together with Lithops comptonii. The rainfall occurs mainly in winter here.
More information can be found here: http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantcd/didylapid.htm
Barbata means bearded and it would be hard to come up with a more apt name for this interesting little gem which is not just beautiful, but also interesting in an ecological sense.
The pictures show how dramatically the appearance of the plants changes between late autumn and late spring. Please bear in mind that the plants occur in the southern hemisphere, and also that they only grow in the cooler and wetter months (autumn to early spring).
In nature, these plants are short-lived (1-2 years). They are so-called monocarpic, which means they die after flowering (new rosettes may be produced at the base).
Their leaves are variable in shape and about 1-2 cm long and 2-3.5 cm wide. They are fringed with relative long hairs (cilia), which may be up to 0.5 cm in length and are able to absorb dew. Over a hundred years ago, Marloth found out that plants of this species could absorb in this way more than 5 % of their weight per night.
Although the plants are stemless, they are up to 30 cm tall when in flower (September-November).
This subspecies is widespread from the Cederberg to the Little Karoo, always occurring in small numbers, as a rule in shade, under shrubs or on rocky slopes.
Ssp. broomii is only known from near Victoria West and mainly differs in the much shorter cilia (less than 1 mm).
Mid May (Late autumn)End of JulyEarly AugustEarly AugustLate SeptemberEarly OctoberEnd of October (Late Spring)
With summer approaching, the rosettes have closed to minimize transpiration. The cover of long hairs also acts as insulation against strong light and desiccating winds.
In the field, one now and then comes across Mesembs with blackish stains which apparently are caused by fungi (sooty moulds) that grow on the sweet honeydew secreted by-sap sucking insects.
Although this makes the plants less attractive to look at, they do not normally seem to suffer much from it. The subject of this post is often a victim of these attacks; other well-known examples are Antegibbaeum, Cephalophyllum and Cylindrophyllum.
Over time, C. pachyphylla will form clumps of waxy* grayish leaves which are up to 6 cm long and three-angled in cross-section with a very oblique keel.
Usually the flowers are purple pink, rarely white or pale yellow. They are 2.5-3.5 cm in diameter and appear in late autumn to winter( May-July).
Although there are not very many populations, the plants are often locally abundant on sandstone rocks and shale ridges in the Little Karoo between Barrydale and Oudtshoorn.
* The genus name is derived from ceros = wax and chlamys = mantle.
A widespread a and very variable taxon* occurring in loamy and clayey soils and on stony slopes from the mouth of the Orange river to the southwestern Cape and the eastern end of the Little Karoo.
The plants have stems 1-2 cm thick, with or without fine hairs, and form clumps up to 25 cm in diameter and 30 cm tall.
The flowers are 5-14 cm in diameter and vary from uniform reddish-purple to striped red and yellow, with or without soft hairs in the centre and along the margins. They appear in March-October.
