Astroloba rubriflora green leaves

The thick Astroloba rubriflora leaves have smooth, thickly ridged margins tapering to acutely angled, sharp points. The leaf-shape is triangular with a concave upper surface. Patches of whitish bloom are random upon the leaf surfaces that vary from dark to pale and yellowish green, as well as some pink, purple and brown reserved for the tips of older leaves.

The species is in nature confined to a small inland region just west of the Little Karoo in the Western Cape near Robertson, McGregor and Bonnievale.

The habitat is rocky karoid flats and low hills covered in scrub and renosterbos that provide overhead protection to small succulents. Expansion of agriculture is steadily replacing parts of the veld that is home to this plant, rendering it vulnerable due to a decreasing population early in the twenty first century (www.redlist.sanbi.org).