Trichodiadema mirabile
| Trichodiadema mirabile | |
|---|---|
| |
| Juvenile T. mirabile in cultivation | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Aizoaceae |
| Genus: | Trichodiadema |
| Species: | T. mirabile
|
| Binomial name | |
| Trichodiadema mirabile | |
Trichodiadema mirabile is succulent plant of the genus Trichodiadema, native to the Western Cape Province, South Africa, where it is known from the Laingsburg area and especially from south-facing slopes.
Description
A small, erect shrub, reaching up to 11 cm.
The leaves are erect, stiff and papillate, and each leaf is tipped with dark-brown, erect-inclining bristles.
The flowers are white to pale-cream in colour, with white filamentous staminodes at the centre, and are on short stalks.
The fruit capsule has six locules, each locule with distinctive V-shaped covering membranes.[2]
Related species
It very closely resembles Trichodiadema orientale, a species from the Eastern Cape, which however has 5 locules, longer papillae on its bladder cells, and has flowers that are more pinkish-white (sometimes white with pinkish petal tips).
Trichodiadema mirabile, T. orientale and T. hallii are the only three species in the genus to have erect-inclining diadem bristles.[3]
References
- ^ "Trichodiadema mirabile (N.E.Br.) Schwantes". Plants of the World Online. The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. n.d. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
- ^ Hartmann, H.E.K.; Niesler, I.M. (2013). "A new morphological study of the genus Trichodiadema (Aizoaceae) permits the description of a new subgenus, T. subg. Gemiclausa". Bradleya. 31: 58–75. doi:10.25223/brad.n31.2013.a9.
- ^ Hartmann, H.E.K (2017). Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Aizoaceae F-Z. Springer-Verlag.
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