Psammophora

Shrubs up to 600 mm high or compactly tufted, dwarf shrubs +/- 150 mm high, sometimes with stem-crown drawn below ground. Leaves decussate, elongate to short, fleshy, 3-angled to rounded in cross section, with a rounded keel and often a pinkish base, dull green to bluish grey-green; epidermis with prominent cells with secondary anticlinal walls, stomatal apparatus and normal cells in a sunken position, surface producing a viscous mucilage to which sand grains adhere and cover leaves. Flowers solitary, terminal, pedicellate, up to +/- 25 mm in diameter, bibracteate; opening at midday, closing by dusk; scented. Sepals 4, subequal, sticky. Petals linear, obtuse, white to light violet. Stamens and staminodes present. Nectary a crenulate ring. Ovary: placentas parietal; stigmas 5 or 6(7), filiform. Fruit a 5- or 6(7)-locular capsule, of Delosperma type; flattish; expanding keels parallel, ending in rather long, rounded, light yellow, crenulate wings, lacerate at apex; covering membranes vestigial; closing bodies 0. Seeds pear-shaped, minutely tuberculate, light brown with orange tint. F lowering in winter. D istinguishing characters: tufted or shrubby perennials; leaves with sticky epidermis to which sand adheres; fruit with rudimentary covering membranes, without closing bodies.