Huernia stapelioides

Huernia stapelioides, previously known as H. vogtsii, is a variable stem succulent. This plant is among the most common and well-known members of its genus, often seen in cultivation. The stems branch and forms clumps, reaching heights between 2 cm and 5 cm.

In the photo, above the open flowers there are a few small, smooth buds of varying size, purplish to beige, depending on their developmental stage. The five protruding points around the sides of each bud become the secondary lobe tips seen on the open flowers in the sinuses, the dips between the lobes.

The main corolla lobes of the flower, still cohering in the bud, form the steep central point. On the buds it is also possible to see some thin sepal tips spreading away from the corollas. Sepals are small enough to be hidden behind the corollas of open flowers.

The base of the corolla around the two coronas, (outer and inner), is uniformly maroon-red in these flowers.

The species distribution is in Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, as well as in some neighbouring countries to the north. It grows in grassland and scrub, among thorn trees and on mountain slopes. This plant is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Hardy and Fabian, 1992; White and Sloane, 1937; www.redlist.sanbi.org).