In their most typical form, these plants are easy to identify, because of the more or less rounded, rather than flat rosettes (see first two pictures).
When they don’t have this give-away shape, one has to have a closer look at the leaves and spines, which are firm and stiff.
Locality is also important, as they only occur in the southwestern corner of the great Karoo and the adjacent part of the Little Karoo.
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.
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
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).
Apparently not all experts agree on what is a succulent and what is not. The subject of this post e.g. is mentioned in the List of Southern African Succulent Plants (1997), but not in the Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants (2002).
Well, whether a succulent or not, it is an interesting tuberous geophyte ( a plant that has its regenerating buds below soil-level, often with big underground storage organs and short-lived growth above ground).
The leaves are undivided or divided into 3 leaflets.
In September-October the plants are decorated with white to pale yellow flowers about 1.7 cm across – up to 17 in each inflorescence.
The plants are widespread in the winter rainfall area of the western Karoo, southwards to Karoopoort and Matjiesfontein, usually on low shale ridges in direct sunlight and often in large numbers.
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).
