The first picture -taken in August- shows that not only human beings like these plants. After winter rainfall, they are a juicy bite for hungry animals (in this case probably a tortoise).
The next four pictures were taken in October and November, when progressing heat and drought start discolouring the plants.
After summer the plants may look quite miserable (as shown in the last picture, taken in April).
Both the genus name and the specific epithet are derived from the word gibba (hump, referring to the irregularly swollen leaves).
Plants of this species are sometimes locally abundant in the Western part of the Little Karoo and the Southwest corner of the Great Karoo (Ceres, Laingsburg, Montagu and Worcester), usually in pebbly shale or quartz patches.
They form more or less compact clumps up to 15 cm in diameter with a woody rootstock.
The pink to purple flowers are 2-3 cm in diameter and appear in early spring (August).
Here G. gibbosum is accompanied by Tanquana prismatica (on right)
Depending on the local conditions these plants are compact or sprawling, often starting life under a shrub.
In spite of the name (“with short leaves”), with a length of 3.5-5 cm the leaves are by no means the shortest in the genus.
The flowers are about 4 cm in diameter and purple with white stamens or (more rarely) cream-coloured with purple-brown stamens; they appear from June though September.
The plants occur from the Cedarberg to the western Little Karoo on open slopes or in dry, open scrub.
This species is probably more variable in flower and growth form than any other Cephalophyllum.
Depending on the local conditions these plants are compact or sprawling, often starting life under a shrub.
In spite of the name (“with short leaves”), with a length of 3.5-5 cm the leaves are by no means the shortest in the genus.
The flowers are about 4 cm in diameter and purple with white stamens or (more rarely) cream-coloured with purple-brown stamens; they appear from June though September.
The plants occur from the Cedarberg to the western Little Karoo on open slopes or in dry, open scrub.
This species is probably more variable in flower and growth form than any other Cephalophyllum.
A young plant
Cheek to cheek with Gibbaeum gibbosum
In spite of its name, the leaves of this plant are not always lying flat on the ground. This does not come as a complete surprise in a species which is probably more variable in its leaf characters than any other Glottiphyllum. This variability is reflected in the long list of synonyms. It seems likely that the very wide distribution of this species (compared to its siblings) is at least partly responsible for the wide range of characters.
In each pair, the leaves are slightly different in size (in the seedling state this difference does not exist); they may be up to 8.5 cm long and the tips often have a more or less distinct hook.
As in all other Glottiphyllums (apart from some albinos) the flowers are yellow; they appear in mid winter (July-August).
The plants occur from the southern Ceres Karoo through the Little Karoo to Humansdorp and are often the only Glottiphyllum in the area. They normally grow under shrubs in shaley sandstone or on loamy soils.
The first picture shows no less than 4 species apart from G. depressum:
Antegibbaeum fissoides, Adromischus fiicaulis ssp. marlothii, Crassula tecta and C. congesta ssp. laticephala.
It may be of interest to see what Prof. Schwantes in his magnum opus Flowering Stones and Mid-Day Flowers (1957) has to say about this “most remarkable and interesting species”: “This forms annually only two pairs of leaves to each growth which, however, are differently shaped. This phenomenon is called dimorphism of the leaf. The pair of leaves that appears at the beginning of the rainy season from out of the dry sheath is united into a long sheath at the base but developed normally above into widely separated, yawning, broad leaf tips. This pair of leaves with its comparatively broad surfaces that catch the light and absorb carbon dioxide as nourishment, provides food during the growth period. When the end of this period approaches there pushes out of the channel formed through the uniting of these normally developed leaves a peculiar, elongated, cylindrical structure which consists of two leaves joined right up to the tip. The very short ends are separated only by a slit, which shows that the growth actually consists of two thick leaves. Growths which consist of such closely united leaves are called plant bodies (corpusculum). The object of this close union can only be to reduce the evaporating surface as much as possible and to protect the young growth within from being dried up. The plant’s struggle to make the leaf pair as nearly spherical as possible is here obvious; as is known, the sphere is the form with the smallest surface area. Within these leaf pairs or plant bodies the next pair develops, which once more is less completely united. Inside the body a channel running its whole length remains open; the slowly developing leaf pair is fitted into this and draws from the plant body food and water until it has dried up to a parchment-like skin which completely surrounds the young pair so that not even the tip projects. In this condition the growth, well protected by the skin, lives through the dry period and when the rains begin the deeply buried pair of leaves quickly emerges from the skin surrounding it. In Ruschia pygmaea quite distinct leaf pairs are produced for the dry and for the rainy seasons, one of which has a large surface for assimilation, while the other serves for the protection of the resting pair.”
23 June 2010
1 Oct. 2006
1 Oct. 2012
29 Jan. 2012
18 Feb. 2007
There are not many plants that look better or more interesting in the resting state than during active growth, but this species is certainly one of them.
The plants form low, densely branched mats to 15 cm in diameter.
The leaf pairs are dimorphic. One pair is almost fused almost completely, to 5 mm tall and 3 mm wide, developing into a conical body which turns into a dry sheath protecting the subsequent leaf pair during the dry period. These white bodies become slashed with time and are typical for the species.
The plants occur on shaly slopes in a smallish area between Worcester and Laingsburg.
Irrespective of the statement in the first sentence of this post, the plants are quite cute when in flower. The flowers are up to 18 mm across and appear in winter (July-August).
This spectacular species forms erect shrubs to 1 m tall and 1.5 m in diameter and is deservedly popular as a garden plant in suitable climates.
They occur in the Little Karoo, mainly in the Ladismith-Montagu area on stony sandy soil. The flowers appear from September through December.
This spectacular species forms erect shrubs to 1 m tall and 1.5 m in diameter and is deservedly popular as a garden plant in suitable climates.
They occur in the Little Karoo, mainly in the Ladismith-Montagu area on stony sandy soil. The flowers appear from September through December.
