Source:
SSA
Description:
Low shrublets up to 400 mm high; young stems smooth, succulent, becoming woody with age. Leaves decussate, lower parts fused, sheathing stem down to node below, free part deltoid-trigonous, tips recurved; glabrous, up to 13 mm long. Flowers solitary, terminal, subsessile, up to 30 mm in diameter, remaining open after first opening. Sepals 5, unequal, acuminate. Petals white or pink, free towards base. Staminodes present, gathered around stamens, pink or purple, rarely white. Nectary inconspicuous. Ovary +/- flat on top; placentas parietal; stigmas 7-10, minute. Fruit a 7-10-locular, woody capsule, of Lampranthus type but valves with very narrow wings; expanding keels parallel at base, with diverging awned tips; covering membranes stout; closing bodies 0. Seeds brown to black, surface rough. F lowering spring to summer. D istinguishing characters: shrubs with stem-sheathing, partially fused leaf pairs; fruit with 7-10 locules.
Distribution:
Species 1, Smicrostigma viride (Haw.) N.E.Br. The distribution of Smicrostigma stretches from Riversdale in the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape border. It is a typical Little Karoo element found in arid areas north of the Langeberg and Outeniqua Mountains.
Classification:
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