Adromischus

Adromischus is a genus of succulent shrublets, rarely herbs. The branches are usually decumbent, rarely erect, the stems fleshy, sometimes woody. The leaves are spirally arranged, often clustered at stem-tips.

The inflorescence is usually a spike-like thyrse, rarely branched. Floral bracts are present, shorter than the leaves. The calyx has five triangular, acutely pointed lobes. The corolla has a tube of fused petal-bases and free, spreading lobes.

There are ten stamens in two whorls. Their filaments attached low in the inside of the corolla tube are hairless, or papillae grow on them. The anthers are included or exserted from the flower mouth with appendages present, about spherical in shape.

Each flower has five carpels that are almost free, tapering into short styles. A carpel is the female flower component, usually consisting of an ovary, a style and a stigma. The small ellipsoid seeds are wider at one end, longitudinally ridged with transversal striations in the grooves.

The genus comprises 27 species, all endemic to southern Africa where the species are widespread. Some plants of the genus resemble Tylecodon species, another genus of the Crassulaceae family, but Adromischus leaves do not die back in summer as occurs in Tylecodon. Adromischus flowers are borne sparsely spaced in elongated, raceme-shaped inflorescences and usually tubular, whereas Cotyledon flowers are usually bell-shaped, growing in panicles.

The plant in picture is Adromischus triflorus seen near Oudtshoorn (Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok,2015; iNaturalist).