Psilocaulon

Herbs, subshrubs or shrubs, perennial or annual to biennial, prostrate, decumbent or erect; stems (young) articulate, succulent and green, old ones becoming woody; bladder cells inconspicuous, hair-like, dome-shaped or much flattened. Leaves decussate and becoming alternate in inflorescence, free or shortly fused at base, semiterete or terete, dry and persistent or deciduous, sometimes with mucro. Flowers terminal or lateral, in cymes or solitary, less than 20 mm in diameter. Sepals 4 or 5, fused into a short tube. Petals free or shortly fused towards base, white, pink, puce or rarely pale yellow to greenish. Staminodes gathered around stamens, thus forming a cone. Nectary consisting of 4 or 5 narrow grooves or absent. Ovary with axile placentas. Fruit a 4- or 5-locular capsule, of Mesembryanthemum type, expanding keels extending to centre of fruit; valve wings inflexed over valves. Seeds D-shaped or obtusely triangular in outline, 0.5-1.2 mm long, rough or almost smooth, ochre or brown. x = 9 (1 report, polyploidy). F lowering from early- to mid-summer. D istinguishing characters: stems succulent, smooth or with minute bladder cell idioblasts; flowers with broad filamentous staminodes which are ragged at tips, transparent and gathered into a cone.