Mesembryanthemum tortuosum ghost leaves

The skeletal remains of old Mesembryanthemum tortuosum leaves retain their emaciated outlines in interlacing vein structure around the lush new leaves that have grown taller on the stems. Leaf colour disappeared with succulence, rendering these dry, ghost leaves a pale yellow-brown, buff or beige.

The species lingered for long in the Sceletium genus while others of that genus have unequivocally been moved to Mesembryanthemum.

Dried, fermented parts of this plant form the base of the kougoed concoctions used by people as drugs of old and, who knows, like the lingering name, still today (Smith, et al, 2019; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; iNaturalist).