Huernia thudichumii or H. humilis

Huernia thudichumii is a dwarf stem succulent closely related to H. humilis; according to some only a form of the latter.

The short, thick stems are branched at the base, forming a clump on the ground. The four- to five-angled stems become about 4 cm tall with whitish, deltoid teeth along the angles. The stem sides are dull glaucous to turquoise with purple blotches and smooth.

A few flowers grow in succession, facing outwards from a persistent, short peduncle emerging from the lower part of a young stem. The five triangular corolla lobes spread around a prominent, creamy yellow to whitish annulus or thick, smooth ring. (The annulus of H. humilis is blotched red to maroon or uniformly red.) Small teeth or secondary lobes are present halfway between the main lobe tips. The corolla diameter is about 4 cm. Minute red-purple spots may be scattered on the lobe blade upper surfaces, outside the monocoloured annulus.

The coronas situated in the shallow, dark red-purple tube base inside the annulus are small. The outer corona has five lobes or ten paired slightly unequal teeth, depending on how one wishes to regard them. The five lobes of the inner corona are ovate and incurved over the backs of the anthers.

The species distribution is limited to a small part of the Great Karoo in the Western Cape around Klaarstroom at the foot of the Swartberg Mountains.

The habitat is semi-arid, karoid scrubveld where the plants grow under shrubs on stony ground. If H. thudichumii is considered to be part of H. humilis, it would be regarded as not threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century. If it is regarded as a separate species in a much smaller distribution not extending to around De Aar, its status as to a future in nature is indeterminate.

The plants appear different, but amateurs cant argue effectively about genetic findings (Frandsen, 2017; White and Sloane, 1937; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).