Faucaria felina var. felina

The leaves of Faucaria felina var. felina resemble a collection of jaws, reflected in the generic name of Faucaria, faux meaning jaw in Latin. F. felina as well as F. tigrina are commonly known in Afrikaans as tierbekvygie or tiger jaws. Felina pertains to a cat or cats, the leaves sometimes thought to resemble cat’s claws more than their jaws.

Whatever they look like, the daunting appearance of the marginal leaf teeth disappears when touching them: theyre soft. The dull green to bluish green leaves are thickly triangular, tapering to their tips and deeply keeled on the lower surface.

Tiny white tubercles are scattered along all leaf surfaces. Whitish, cartilaginous ridges are found along the margins and keels, also along the angular margins of the three or four prominent teeth on the margins, a little back from the leaf tips. The teeth may taper to long, wiry, white protruding tips (Smith, et al, 1998; Van Jaarsveld, et al, 2006).