Hartmanthus

Compact, small to medium-sized shrublets, with erect or somewhat spreading, woody branches. Leaves greenish grey to silvery, strongly compressed lengthwise and keeled on back; leaf margins not very sharp, often with a reddish tinge in full sun; leaf surfaces rough to the touch. Flowers in long, flattened and long-lived inflorescences, faintly scented. Sepals 5, unequal. Petals almost white to light or distinctly pink. Nectary a crenulate ring, or of 5 separate, crenulate glands. Ovary with basal-parietal placentas. Fruit a 6-locular capsule, of Delosperma type; whitish; expanding keels parallel, yellowish; valve wings large; covering membranes 0; closing bodies 0. Seeds medium-sized, pear-shaped, rather glossy. F lowering during late winter and early spring. D istinguishing characters: compact shrublets; leaves greenish grey to silvery green, laterally flattened, sometimes rough, shrinking unevenly when dehydrated, leaf margins reddish purple; pedicel strongly flattened.