Trichodiadema densum

Trichodiadema densum is a spreading, mat-forming ground cover succulent shrub, a mesemb. The plant has thick and fleshy tuberous roots. The leaves tend to grow in four vertical arrays up the branches. 

A multitude of large, white-centred, purplish-pink flowers are produced at the end of winter in habitat, while in cultivation the plants may be obstinate about flowering. Flowers only open in on sunny mornings for a part of daytime.

The distribution lies in the southern Karoo near Willowmore and the eastern Little Karoo around Uniondale. The habitat of this plant is arid, the extreme temperatures. 

The plants are browsed by game and livestock in spite of the star-shaped crown of bristles on all the leaf tops, the diadems (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; www.cactus-art.biz).