Eberlanzia

Shrubs up to 500 mm high, sometimes thorny, erect to procumbent; internodes whitish. Leaves of a pair slightly connate, short and fat with convex sides, mucronate, greyish green to dark green; epidermis with elevations above subhypodermal tannin idioblasts, papillate. Flowers relatively small, +/- 10-20 mm in diameter, in richly to poorly branched dichasia, with additional lateral inflorescences, sometimes umbellate and crowded, rarely solitary; spines in inflorescences irregularly distributed, derived from pedicels having lost the fruit; with 2 leafy bracts, with or without bracteoles. Sepals 5, nearly equal. Petals in 1 series or 0, white to violet. Stamens and staminodes present, collected in a cone, often papillate. Nectary a crenulate ring. Ovary raised on top; placentas parietal; stigmas 5, subulate, erect. Fruit capsule close to the Ruschia type; 5-locular; bottom bell-shaped, top convex, valve rims high; valves opening completely, valve wings broad and rectangular; closing bodies white; covering membranes complete with distal closing rodlets and low rims. Seeds smooth, almost round, amber-coloured. x = 9 (1 report). F lowering throughout the year, peaking in winter. D istinguishing characters: flat-growing to erect shrubs; leaves greyish green or reddish or bluish, textured; fruit with valves folding back entirely when expanded.