Source:
SSA
Description:
Dwarf shrubs, up to 400 mm high; branchlets densely leafy, internodes not visible. Leaves opposite, united up to half their length into bodies 5 mm long and wide; upper surface flat, keeled on back, usually with 1 or 2 short teeth on keels, mucronate, smooth, glossy with greyish, bluish or reddish colour; stomatal apparatus sunken, overarched by a dome of peristomatal papillae. Flowers solitary, subsessile; pedicel bibracteate in middle. Sepals 6, unequal. Petals 2- or 3-seriate, white, or pink to purple. Stamens with surrounding staminodes collected in a central cone; filaments papillate. Nectary a crenulate ring. Ovary convex on top; placentas parietal; stigmas 10-12, subulate. Fruit a 10-12-locular capsule close to Leipoldtia type but with a variable and sometimes complete recurving of covering membranes, with spur-like processes which nearly close opening; expanding keels parallel, diverging towards acute apex; closing bodies present. Seeds pear-shaped, somewhat flattened and rough, reddish yellow. F lowering in winter. D istinguishing characters: compact perennials, with grey-green short leaves; flowers white or pink to purple, with staminodes collected in a cone.
Distribution:
Species 2, occurs in the Richtersveld, Northern Cape.
Classification:
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