Source:
SSA
Synonym(s):
Prepodesma N.E.Br.: 279 (1930b).
Description:
Dwarf, tufted, glabrous perennials, with tuberous roots. Leaves opposite, united at base and ground-hugging with bases often buried in soil, boat-shaped, +/- depressed-trigonous in section, spreading, dull green; surface rough, punctate with whitish dots. Flowers solitary, pedicelled to subsessile, bracteate, 20 -30 mm in diameter; opening after noon, closing at dusk. Sepals 5. Petals 2- or 3-seriate, yellow, rarely white, often with a central red stripe. Stamens: inner filaments bearded near base; staminodes present or 0. Nectary a crenate ring. Ovary flattish to conical on top; placentas basal or parietal; stigmas 6 -10, slender, papillate. Fruit a 6 -10-locular capsule, resembling Delosperma type, but the rounded, semiglobose base of capsule differs from typical form, sometimes as tumble fruit; expanding keels strictly radial; closing bodies 0; rims of septa very narrow. Seeds ovoid or somewhat pear-shaped, smooth. x = 9. F lowering almost throughout the year, but not in winter in habitat. D istinguishing characters: small rosette-forming perennials with tuberous roots; leaves pointed at tips, with almost concave upper surfaces and pale dots; flowers in shades of yellow, often with striped petals.
Distribution:
Species 10, widespread in the climatically severe interior of sthn Afr., from near Graaff-Reinet in the Great Karoo (Eastern Cape), northward through the Northern Cape and the central Free State to around Potchefstroom in the North-West, extending into the south of Gauteng. To the west the distribution stretches to near Upington and Bushmanland in the Northern Cape. The occurrence of an apparently isolated population in Namibia, due east of Windhoek, near the border with Botswana, highlights a lack of collections from the Northern Cape and Botswana.
Classification:
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