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Malephora
Malephora is a genus of low, mat-forming succulent perennials in the ice plant family, with 13 to 17 species, many called mesembs. Grown like other ice plants, they need full sun and very well-drained soil, and they suit groundcover or rock gardens.
Malephora is a genus of succulent plants in the ice plant family. There are 13 to 17 species in the genus, many of which are known commonly as mesembs. They are native to Namibia and the Cape Provinces and Free State of South Africa. During the apartheid era, South African scientists used it to create a chemical poison.
These are perennial herbs used as groundcovers lined with fleshy, smooth, sometimes waxy leaves no more than 6 centimetres (2.4 in) long. Leaves are triangular or rounded in cross-section and are arranged oppositely about the stem. The tubular flowers arise from leaf axils or at the ends of stem branches. The flowers may be several centimetres wide. They have up to 65 narrow petals in bright shades of yellow, orange, pink or purple. The center of the flower has whorls of up to 150 stamens. The fruit is a capsule that opens when it becomes wet, releasing the many seeds.
Gross Fingerfig · Coppery mesemb · Malephora engleriana · Malephora flavocrocea · Malephora framesii · Malephora herrei · Malephora latipetala · Golden Fingerfig · Malephora luteola · Malephora mollis · Malephora ochracea · Malephora pienaarii
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Malephora by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
