Gibbaeum heathii in winter

Gibbaeum heathii is a Little Karoo mesemb that has become a popular indoor plant in many parts of the world. Those succulent gardeners that live in areas where they have winter rain and hot, dry summers may grow the plant outside on a well-drained rockery.

The flowers are small, the petals short above a conspicuous fleshy calyx. There may be up to 140 stamens in one flower, but no staminodes. The filaments are white, the anthers and pollen pale yellow. The pedicels of the flowers are slightly over 1 cm long, the flowers partly enclosed between the leaves.

The plant forms a small clump or mat of leaf bodies on short stems. The leaves are sometimes partly sunken into the ground. The leaf body is two paired, sem-globose leaves, joined in their lower parts, the two parts slightly unequal, their surfaces hairless. This brings some protection against the extremes of the elements. Old leaves linger and cover new ones for a period, performing the same service.

The three earlier subspecies of this variable plant are no longer recognised (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Smith, et al, 1997; http://llifle.com).