KAROO PLANTS

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Posting photographs of plants in the Karoo, South Africa. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_id=attaqua&verifiable=any

The native range of this species is South Africa. It is a subshrub or shrub and grows primarily in the desert or dry shrubland biome.
Gibbaeum album, also known as shark's mouth mesemb, is a small species of succulent in the family Aizoaceae. It is endemic to the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is found in the northern parts of the Langeberg in the Barrydale region. There are two sub-populations known, but the population of one has substantially reduced due to road construction. The surviving population is threatened due to encroachment by horticulturists. Gibbaeum album is an evergreen cactus / succulent with blue and green foliage. In spring and summer purple and white flowers emerge. Features glaucous texture. Grows well with mostly sun - mostly shade and low water. Prefers to be dry when dormant. Does well in acidic, gritty, rocky and well-drained soil. Gibbaeum album is a dwarf, compact scarcely branched clump-forming succulent with greyish-white united leaf-pairs. Growing , always above ground. The 4 to 15 leaf-pais, develops mainly towards the outer edge hence pressed laterally to the soil, the interior of old plants is occupied by persisting old capsules and old leaves remnants.
Carissa haematocarpa typically grows to about 3 meters tall and may reach 4 meters under optimal conditions. The plant is densely branched, with widely spreading branches and strong spines that fork once or twice, forming a Y-thorn. These spines usually measure 2–5 cm in length, are green when young and turn woody brown with age. They occur in pairs at the tips of shoots and are long-lasting. Young stems are covered with trichome, while older bark is greenish and wrinkled. All parts of the plant exude a white latex when injured. The fruit of C. haematocarpa is a globose to subglobose berry, relatively small, about 5–10 mm in diameter. When ripe, the fruit is dark purple to black; the specific epithet haematocarpa means "blood-fruited" in Greek, referring to the characteristic reddish coloration before darkening. Unripe fruits contain latex and are inedible, but fully ripe fruits are edible with a sweet–sour taste. The ripe fruits serve as a food source for birds and small animals. Each fruit typically contains 1–2 irregular elliptical seeds with a rough and hard seed coat.
A small Karoo geophyte with an underground tuber, producing a cluster of fine, needle-like green leaves that resemble a tiny shrub. It grows among stones in arid areas and sends up delicate flower buds on short stems. Well adapted to dry conditions, it survives long periods underground and emerges after rain.
Piaranthus comptus is a dwarf stem succulent that forms clumps from branching of the stems that reach heights from 2 cm to 5 cm. The clump of short stems, up to five in nature, may in cultivation grow more in number. The four-angled grey-green stem is slightly rough-surfaced, globose to cylindrical, erect or decumbent and up to 14 mm thick. The species distribution is in the western Little Karoo near Ladismith and northwards into the Great Karoo in the Northern Cape. The plant is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century
Gibbaeum pubescens, also known as shark beak, is a small succulent plant from South Africa. It has pairs of unequal leaves covered with silvery hairs that resemble the beak of a shark. It produces white flowers with magenta petals in late winter and spring. Gibbaeum pubescens is grown as an ornamental plant in rock gardens and pots. It needs well-drained soil, full sun, and little water in summer.
Gleichenia polypodioides (L.) Sm., commonly known as coral fern, kystervaring ('kyster' meaning 'coastal' and of possible Scandinavian derivation) or ystervaring (meaning 'iron fern' in Afrikaans) due to its glabrous, brown, wiry stipes. The species is widespread in south- and east tropical Africa, southern Africa and the western Indian Ocean region. It occurs naturally in a broad coastal belt in South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Angola, Malawi, Burundi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Réunion, Amsterdam Island and Madagascar, and was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1771 under the name Onoclea polypodioides. Often forming dense and impenetrable thickets, sometimes over large areas, this rhizomatous perennial is an important pioneer in disturbed areas such as pine plantations.
Glottiphyllum carnosum is a small, flat-growing succulent plant with leaves that range in colour from blue-green to yellow-green and have a smooth texture. It grows in clusters that can reach a diameter of up to 300 mm. The leaves are mostly almost upright and can measure up to 65 mm in length and 20 mm in width. The flowers, which appear between the leaves in late autumn and winter, are yellow and resemble daisies, with a diameter of approximately 25 mm.
Glottiphyllum linguiforme is a small, spreading succulent with few short, decumbent branches and grey-green, tongue-shaped leaves arranged in two opposite vertical rows. It forms dense clumps and can grow up to 2.6 inches (6.5 cm) tall and 12 inches (30 cm) in diameter. The leaves are flushed bronze to purple when the plant goes dormant in summer. They are ascending to erect, rather flat, narrowing to the base, measuring up to 2.6 inches (6.5 cm) long and 1.8 inches (4.5 cm) wide. The leaves may be up to 5 inches (12.5 cm) long and 3 inches (7.5 cm) wide in robust specimens.
Glottiphyllum regium is a clump-forming succulent and can attain a height of 13 cm and a width of 15 cm. It has a semi-fibrous, shallow root system typical of succulents. The roots are not destructive and plants can be planted right next to structures. Branches are short and the leaves are oblong and tongue-shaped. Inflorescences are staked and flowers can measure up to 35 mm in diameter. The flowers are an iridescent yellow. It flowers from June to late December, its peak flowering time being September.
Glottiphyllum suave (English: Sweet Tongue-leaf; Afrikaans: Soet Tongblaar-vygie) https://redlist.sanbi.org/species.php?species=181-55
Mesembryanthemum englishiae (English: Robertson Preenfig; Afrikaans: Suurvy)
Acrolophia ustulata [Eulophia ustulata] (English: Black Orchid, Golden Orchid; Afrikaans: Swartgrondorgideë) https://www.fernkloof.org.za/index.php/all-plants/plant-families/item/acrolophia-ustulata
Hoodia gordoni (English: Bushman's hat, bitter ghaap; Afrikaans: bitterghaap, muishondghaap, wolweghaap, bobbejaanghaap, bergghaap, bokhorings) https://pza.sanbi.org/hoodia-gordonii
Cyphia dentariifolia; Family: Lobeliaceae
Cucumis africanus (English: wild cucumber, wild gherkin; Afrikaans: wilde agurkie, doringkomkommertjie) https://pza.sanbi.org/cucumis-africanus
Mesembryanthemum crystallinum (English: common ice plant, crystalline ice plant, rosa de jericho; Afrikaans: brakslaai, brakvy, noeta, olifantslaai, slaai, slaaibos, slaaibossie, soutslaai, volstruisslaai) https://pza.sanbi.org/mesembryanthemum-crystallinum
Rushia spinosa
Othonna cerarioides Magoswana and J.C. Manning is described as a new species from Namaqualand, Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It is an erect shrub with rod‐like stems and branches, bearing numerous spur‐shoots with obovate‐oblanceolate leaves clustered at the tips, and up to nine disciform capitula per spur‐shoot. Othonna cerarioides is anomalous in the genus in that the style of some of the disc florets is bifid. Othonna is diagnosed within subtribe Othonnineae by female‐sterile disc florets with simple (or very rarely minutely bifid) styles. The disc florets in the closely related genus Hertia are bisexual with well branched styles.
Description Pelargonium carnosum subsp. carnosum is a succulent shrub of up to 750 mm tall, with thick and fleshy stems that have a knobby appearance because of the somewhat swollen nodes. Young branches are sparsely covered with whitish hairs, but they become smooth with age. The slightly fleshy, grey-green, feather-like leaves, are up to 200 mm long and divided into many lobes, which are somewhat channeled above. This species shows great variability in leaf characters. At the onset of drought, the leaves dry and drop off.