Delosperma nubigenum

Delosperma nubigenum, commonly known as the cloud-born delosperma and in Afrikaans as the geelkransvygie (yellow rock mesemb), grows, prostrate, branched stems that scramble, trail or hang down, usually in mat-forming, ground- or rock-covering fashion. The roots are fibrous, the stems up to 70 cm long, rooting at the nodes.

The paired, opposite (and decussate) leaves are fleshy and pale to bright green, elliptic to boat-shaped with acutely pointed tips, keeled on the outside. There are minute papillae on the leaf surfaces. They may turn bronze to purple in the dry winters.

The flowers, solitary at stem-tips, have short pedicels and top-shaped receptacles below. There are a few more of the bright yellow petals than would form a single whorl. Orange or yellow anthers top the erect central cluster of stamens, numerous staminodes and styles. The plant may start flowering in spring and continue until midsummer. The photo found the plant flowering in January, the rainy summer. Several insects contribute to this plant's pollination. The resultant fruit capsules are also top-shaped.

The species distribution is in the far west of the KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg and the far east of the Free State, as well as in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho, different names for one mountain range. Here it hangs, anchored from a rock crevice in the east of Lesotho.

The habitat is montane, rocky grassland, kloofs and basalt cliffs. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century (Smith, et al, 1998; iNaturalist; https://pza.sanbi.org; http://redlist.sanbi.org).