Diplosoma retroversum leaves light grey-brown

Another Diplosoma retroversum leaf colour acquired in later, tough times is pale grey-brown. This is accompanied by the erstwhile dark green translucent dots turning brown red and opaque, the rest of the leaf surface ironically suggesting translucence.

The leaf lobes are variously shaped, pointing up or sideways. They may have points to one side, a rounded back to the other and not quite symmetrical. Some of the leaf-pairs in picture are almost kidney-shaped.

The now white remnants of dried flower petals spread around dark, rounded central areas where the valves of the fruit capsules are already visible. The seeds are well protected in the midst of the leaf-pairs, to be released when ripe and the valves open. It is not known whether this mesemb has hygrochastic capsules, meaning whether they are adapted for moisture-responsive, intermittent seed dispersal (Frandsen, 2017; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Smith, et al, 1998; iNaturalist; https://www.worldfloraonline.org).