Delosperma lavisiae

Delosperma lavisiae, sometimes called the Drakensberg sheepfig and in Afrikaans the Drakensberg vygie, is a ground-covering, branched succulent with pink flowers. 

The leaves are paired and erect. Leaf colour is beige with a little green when the plant is seasonally stressed as here, brighter green with ample rain. The leaf shape is elliptic with pointed tips. The upper leaf surface is slightly concave, the lower one keeled.

The flowers have single whorls of petals and lax, pale yellow to whitish clusters of stamens and styles in their centres. Petal shape is oblong with variable tapering towards or rounding of petal tips. The flower diameter is about 2,5 cm.

The distribution is in the eastern Free State, inland KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho. The photo was taken in January in the Mkhomazi Wilderness Area in the Drakensberg.

The plant grows in rocky grassland at medium and high altitudes. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century.

This is a much used garden plant, valued because of good flowers and foliage, is drought resistant and grows easily in various soil types, best in full sun (Smith, et al, 1998; iNaturalist; iSpot; http://redlist.sanbi.org).