Huernia namaquensis spotted flower

Huernia namaquensis flowers grow in cymes of two to four from stem bases on hairless pedicels of 1 cm. The corolla includes a tube of 6 mm deep and 8 mm wide at the mouth before the five triangular lobes spread to a diameter of about 4 cm.

The outer surface of the corolla is pale to dull rose, sometimes the same colour as the closed buds, one of which is almost succeeding in hiding next to the open flower. The bud has notable pointy tips where the secondary corolla lobes cause protrusions, five conical points along the perimeter of the bud. The main or primary lobes cohere tightly over the vital parts maturing inside, their tips meeting at the bud apex.

The inside of the corolla of the open flower is pale creamy yellow, covered in purple spots and tiny obtusely shaped papillae, sometimes topped with tiny bristles.

Only some of the open flowers of H. namaquensis are spotted maroon or purple, while others lack these spots, but still have the papillae across the corolla surface. At the base of the flower resides the dark purple and deep yellow corona.

The previously recognised H. herrei with more spots and a denser corolla covering of papillae is now sunken into H. namaquensis, causing this species to have spotless and spotted forms (Williamson, 2010; White and Sloane, 1937).