Muiria

Dwarf, stemless, single-bodied or sparsely clustered perennials; seasonally covered by withered, whitish felt-like leaf sheaths; roots fibrous. Leaves fused into pairs forming a somewhat spherical, soft body, with a small fissure near apex, and fine, velvety hairs covering stomata. Flowers solitary, rupturing top of body when emerging; pedicel clavate, short, ebracteate; flowers +/- 20 mm in diameter; open during day. Petals in several series, free, linear to filiform, whitish to purple. Stamens +/- epapillate. Sepals 6, oblong, with membranous tips. Nectary a crenate ring +/- clearly broken into 6 parts corresponding with sepals. Ovary half-inferior, partly immersed in stout pedicel; placentas parietal; stigmas 6, short, stout, recurving. Fruit a 6-locular capsule, of Delosperma type; placenta prominent; forming pockets; valves deltoid, expanding horizontally; expanding keels contiguous with broad, marginal valve wings as long as valves; valve wings connate at base, forming pockets; covering membranes or closing devices 0. Seeds many in each locule, ovoid, slightly compressed, smooth, brown. x = 9 (1 report). F lowering early summer. D istinguishing characters: single-bodied perennials with leaf pairs entirely fused, hairy; flowers rupturing tips of bodies when emerging.