Tag: Mesembs

Antimima (Ruschia) biformis

The conspicuously dotted leaves are typical of this species, which is one of the smallest in the genus.

Over time the plants form low cushions up to 2.5 cm tall and 18 cm in diameter.
The leaves are of two types:
one pair forms a body of 2-5 mm long with 2 very short lobes, greyish-green with a purple hue. During the hot and dry resting period, this pair dries out and forms a dry sheath-like cover which protects the consecutive pair.
In this second pair, the leaves are almost free, 2-7 mm long and 2-3 mm wide and thick, triangular in cross-section, and pointed.
This phenomenon of two different types of leaf-growth is called heterophylly and it may be interesting to note that it is reflected in the name of this species (bi=two; forma=form, shape).
The plants have solitary purplish flowers (with or without a darker mid-stripe) on stalks 3-4 mm long.

According to the literature, they occur in shaly sandstone crevices in the Swellendam area. The first picture below was made about 20 km NW. of Montagu, the others about 15 km E. of Montagu. The last two ones show plants in late January (during the resting period), the other ones were taken in early September (during the growing season).

Mesembryanthemum longistylum

Depending on the availability of water, these plants are either annuals or biennials.
They are sprawling or erect (to 40 cm tall), with a slightly woody base. Their leaves usually have inconspicuous bladder cells and are 2-3.5 cm long and 0.2-1 cm wide, linear to narrowly oblong and more or less cylindrical to flattened, slightly channelled and green (often with a red tinge).
The flowers are up to 2.5 cm in diameter and have white petals, often with pink tips and/or a yellowish base; they appear mainly in Sept.-Nov.

Although it is locally abundant and widespread mainly in the Western Cape, the species is reported from places as far away as Springbok and Port Elizabeth. It is usually found on disturbed clay or loam and along roadsides.

Cephalophyllum framesii

Like many other Cephalophyllums, this species can quickly spread as a pioneer on disturbed or alluvial soil. This ability, combined with flowers in a wide variety of colours, makes them good ground cover subjects for gardens in a suitable climate.

The plants have dark green leaves, club-shaped, and 3-7 cm long.
In June-August, they produce flowers to 4 cm in diameter, with cream-coloured, yellow, pink or magenta petals and yellow or magenta stamens.
They occur in Namaqualand (Riethuis to Vredendal) and the northern Tanqua Karoo.

Monilaria moniliformis

Common names: ertjievygie, pea mesemb, bobbejaanvingers.

The most distinct features of the genus Monilaria are the constricted stems and the persistent leaf bases which look like a  string of beads (Latin monilaria  = a collection of strings of pearls)
Each growing season, the plants form a short and a long leaf pair: the first pair is largely fused so that it looks like a  flattish, rounded body; the second pair emerges through the tip of this body and consists of elongated leaves which are cylindrical or almost triangular in cross-section and only fused at their bases.

M. moniliformis -the most well-known species of the genus- is a shrublet to 15 cm high, with barrel-shaped internodes which make it relatively easy to recognize the plants.
In July-August the flowers appear; they are to 4 cm across and have relatively long stalks (to 5 cm) and usually white petals ( sometimes tinged yellow); the filaments are white, orange, or purple.
The species occurs in the Vredendal-Vanrhynsdorp-Klawer area of southern Namaqualand), where it grows fully exposed, mostly on clay and quartz patches. This is the southernmost part of the distribution area of the genus.

Mesembryanthemum liliputanum (Phyllobolus abbreviatus)

Usually, this dainty geophyte (up to 5 cm tall) only has a few leaves and flowers on slightly woody stems produced from tuberous roots.
The leaves are 4-ranked and almost cylindrical, they are covered in big and beautiful water-storing bladder cells. The pale yellow flowers are about 2 cm in diameter and appear in August-October.

Occurring on shale or loamy soil covered with quartz pebbles in the Vanrhynsdorp area.

Mesembryanthemum subtruncatum

What I find intriguing in this little annual, is the way the flowers open and rearrange their petals.
The flowers appear in October, are pink with a white or straw-coloured base and may be up to 2.5 cm in diameter.
The plants are up to 10 cm tall and 15 cm in diameter; the leaves are club-shaped, bright green but turning reddish when the flowers start appearing.

In the Tanqua Karoo and Little Karoo the species is locally abundant in disturbed places (usually in quartz).

Lampranthus watermeyeri

In suitable climates, this robust shrub with its beautiful flowers would make a nice garden plant. In nature, the species is found on sandstone outcrops and in sandy soils on rocky slopes, from Hondeklipbaai to Lambert’s Bay and inland as far as Worcester.
The plants are sparsely branched, usually erect (up to 50 cm tall), but sometimes creeping. They have triangular to almost cylindrical leaves, 2-4 cm long and 0.5-0.6 cm in diameter.
The flowers have long stalks and are mostly solitary; they are up to 7 cm in diameter, usually white but sometimes pink or magenta, without staminodes; they appear in June-November.

Cheiridopsis peculiaris (eselore)

A peculiar species indeed and therefore easy to recognise.
The plants are up to 5 cm tall, usually with up to 3 branches. They form two types of leaf pairs: in the first one the leaves are flat and largely free. In the second pair they are upright and fused for more than half their length; this pair becomes dry and papery in summer, so that the new growth is protected from drying out.
The flowers very large (up to 6 cm in diameter) and appear in Aug.-Sept.

Found on shale flats and gneiss slopes in northern Namaqualand (from Springbok to north and west of Steinkopf), an area with 100-200 mm rainfall per year (in winter).

 

 

 

 

 

Bijlia dilatata

This is one of the more easily recognized mesembs, only known from the Prince Albert area, where it occurs on flats and hills with broken dolerite and quartz gravel.
The old name Bijlia cana cannot be used anymore; vernacular names are Prince Albert vygie, pangavygie and skewevygie.
The plants grow in small clumps of smooth and hard, boat-like but very asymmetric leaves, which are almost as broad as thick in the upper half and pale greyish green to pinkish/yellowish white.
In July-August they produce bright yellow or orange-yellow, short-stalked flowers to about 3.5 cm in diameter.

 

 

 

Vanzijlia annulata

There is only a single species in the genus Vanzijlia, occurring in sand along the west coast, from Saldanha to Hondeklipbay and inland towards Clanwilliam on loam.

The plants form small tangled shrubs, with branches creeping or growing upwards into other shrubs. They have dimorphic leaf pairs:
– a smaller, nearly completely fused pair which is oblong or spherical, with or without small free points to the leaves
– a larger pair in which the leaves are more or less cylindrical or semi-cylindrical and only fused at the base (often inflated there).
The pale pink to white flowers are solitary, 2.5 to 6 cm in diameter and appear in late autumn to winter (May-September). After pollination they develop into capsules with 9 or 10 compartments.