Tag: Aizoaceae (Mesembryanthemaceae)
Lampranthus haworthii (1)
With its large shiny flowers, it is small wonder that this species is often seen in South African gardens.
The plants form robust dense woody shrubs up to 60-70 cm and sometimes even taller. They have light grey-green, more or less cylindrical leaves, 2-4 cm long. The purplish tips of the leaves are quite characteristic.
The flowers are white or pink to light purple with a white base and are up to 8 cm in diameter. They appear in Spring (June – early October).
The species occurs often in considerable numbers throughout the Little Karoo and northwestward to Clanwilliam.
Conophytum comptonii
In an earlier post I discussed Anacampseros comptonii, growing next to this Conophytum. For more information on the habitat please follow the link.
The photos were taken at Oorlogskloof , 4 April 2012.
Meyerophytum meyeri
These peculiar plants produce leaves of two kinds: the first pairs of the season are egg shaped, forming a bilobed body; the second ones are much longer than wide, with the leaves free for about two thirds of their length.
The plants are cushion-shaped and up to about 30 cm in diameter. They are found from the Richtersveld to southern Namaqualand, in loamy soil, often with quartz pebbles.
The flowers appear in winter and are either dark pink throughout, or rose with a white base, or white (turning pink with age).
The first two pictures were taken 6 Sept. 2010 (look at the Crassula elegans and Conophytum saxetanum keeping the first plant company)
The flowering plants were photographed 11 July 2011
Mesembryanthemum (Psilocaulon) junceum
Almost all Mesembs are leaf succulents, but this species is an exception.
On young stems, leaves are present for a short period, but they fall off as soon as the dry period sets in. The leaves are small but at the same time quite succulent. One would think it to be wasteful to invest a lot of energy in producing something that is used for only a short while. Nevertheless it seems to be a successful strategy, as the species is widespread and often locally abundant. They act as pioneers on disturbed loamy soils and that probably explains how they can afford to be wasteful with their resources. The disturbance will in most cases aerate the soil and make nutrients available, so that for some time food is present in abundance.
The plants may be up to 60 cm tall and occur from Namaqualand to the Eastern Cape.
The flowers are white, pink or purple, up to 1.5 cm across and appear in spring (September- November).
Mesembryanthemum guerichianum (2)
The big bladder cells that cover leaves and calyxes give the impression of beautiful jewellery, but their reason for being there is rather more prosaic. They function as external water storage for the plants (see post 17 Dec. 2012).
Mesembryanthemum guerichianum (1)
Trichodiadema mirabile
The genus name is derived from Greek trix = hair and diadema = crown. This refers to the tuft of stiff hairs or bristles present on the tips of leaves and sepals.
The diadem is believed to be able to absorb dew and rain water. This idea is supported by the fact that in cultivation, where there is usually much more water available to the plants, the diadem is often not well developed.
The crown of hairs can be removed as a whole and is the most characteristic property of the genus. In spite of this, diadems are not present in all species, nor do they all look the same. In most cases the diadem consists of radiating hairs, but in a few species the diadem is a tuft of erect bristles. T. mirabile is a case in point.
The species forms an erect shrublet up to 8 cm tall. The beautiful, pure white flowers are up to 4 cm in diameter and appear from October to January.
The plants can be found on stony slopes from the Laingsburg area to Uitenhage.
Ruschia caroli
In spring (August-September), this is one of the many Mesemb species decorating the countryside with their colourful flowers.
It occurs from my area northwards to Clanwilliam on sandy and clayey soils.
The shrubs are up to 60 cm in height and 80 cm in diameter, with decumbent* grey to reddish branches (* creeping on the ground with the tips curved upwards).
The flowers are 2-2.5 cm across and pink to magenta with a darker midline.
Looking at the pictures you will notice that the last one gives a rather different impression of the flowers. It was taken in the shade and very slightly overexposed. This combination gives a result that I find rather pleasing to the eye.
Drosanthemum speciosum, decked out with yet another colour
“After three consecutive posts on one species, I will not mention it for a while now. Promise.”
I wrote this in October last year and the species I referred to was the same one as the subject of this post. After being silent on the topic for some ten months, I now have reason to bring it up again.
Last Sunday I visited “Vrolykheid Nature Reserve”, which is situated between Robertson and McGregor. The plant pictured here was only one of a couple of interesting finds this little known reserve proved to have in stock.
When I had a look at some plants of Drosanthemum speciosum with very dark scarlet flowers, I suddenly noticed one plant with exquisite silvery pink flowers. In all other respects it looked like a run-of-the-mill D.speciosum. Nevertheless I checked out all my available literature and found out that the flower colour is described as “red to orange” and” bright orange to crimson”.
The only book with a different opinion is “Vygies, gems of the veld” by Van Jaarsveld en De Villiers Pienaar. What they say is the following: “Flowers up to 50 mm in diameter, usually orange, flaming scarlet or red. There are however yellow, rose-pink and even pale pink or straw-coloured forms of the plant.”
There is a similar species with pink flowers growing near Ceres (D. bellum), but there the leaves are more or les cylindrical and recurved at the tip, whereas in D. speciosum the leaves are “semi-cylindrical or trigonous, incurved like horns”.
