e-Key v3 - Key to Mesembryanthemaceae Genera (Generative)
SANBI Flora Keys Logo
Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.
  • Key 1, based on Bolus in Herre (1971), using mainly fruit and flower characters.
  • The genus Ihlenfeldtia H.E.K.Hartmann is not represented in this key
Backtrack a
  • Placentation axile
002
b
  • Placentation parietal
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves flat
002
b
  • Leaves terete, subterete, or semiterete
002
Backtrack a
  • Fruit a schizocarp
002
b
  • Fruit a capsule
002
Backtrack a
  • Perennials
  • Petals white
  • Fruit consisting of 3 or 4 nut-like, bilocular mericarps which contain a single seed in each locule
Caryotophora
b
  • Annuals
  • Petals yellow
  • Fruit consisting of 18-21 membranous, 1-seeded sections
Hymenogyne
Backtrack a
  • Leaves persisting as membranous skeletons with margins and veins intact, sometimes until the next season's growth
Sceletium
b
  • Leaves not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Stigmas red
Mesembryanthemum
b
  • Stigmas green or pallid
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves opposite
002
b
  • Leaves alternate on flowering branches
002
Backtrack a
  • Annuals
  • Leaves conspicuously united
Synaptophyllum
b
  • Perennials
  • Leaves not conspicuously united
Aptenia
Backtrack a
  • Bladder cells conspicuous
  • Leaves of the central tuft, if present, usually forming a rosette, margins undulate
Mesembryanthemum
b
  • Bladder cells not, or scarcely, visible
  • Leaves of the central tuft erect, margins flat
Prenia
Backtrack a
  • Annuals or biennials
Mesembryanthemum
b
  • Perennials
002
Backtrack a
  • Internodes entirely enclosed in embracing leaf tissue, or with age becoming evident
002
b
  • Internodes not thus enclosed
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves semiterete, up to 35 mm long and 8 mm in diameter
  • Sepals very unequal
  • Corolla fugitive, up to 25 mm long
  • Shrubby
Aspazoma
b
  • Leaves terete and finger-like, up to 70 mm long and 20 mm in diameter
  • Sepals nearly equal
  • Corolla long-lived, up to 15 mm long, petals stiff
  • Forming clumps
Dactylopsis
Backtrack a
  • Branches usually constricted at the nodes
  • Leaf bases sheathing, persistent
  • Staminodes usually petaloid
002
b
  • Branches very rarely constricted at the nodes
  • Leaf bases not conspicuously persistent
  • Staminodes filamentous, usually absent in Aridaria and Phyllobolus
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaf sheaths fringed with conspicuous, deflexed hairs at base (or in B. marlothii at the tip of the leaf sheaths)
Brownanthus
b
  • Leaf sheaths nude at the base, inconspicuous
002
Backtrack a
  • Plants with creeping annual stems and tuberous rootstocks
Caulipsolon
b
  • Plants with upright stems
  • Roots not tuberous
Psilocaulon
Backtrack a
  • Bladder cells scarcely visible
  • Branches and peduncles woody or wiry
  • Cymes distinctive, dichasial
  • Flowers usually nocturnal
Aridaria
b
  • Bladder cells usually evident
  • Young branches and peduncles externally herbaceous
  • Flowers 1-3-nate
  • Flowers usually diurnal
Phyllobolus
Backtrack a
  • Fruit indehiscent, juicy and edible
Carpobrotus
b
  • Fruit capsular
002
Backtrack a
  • Locules of the capsule without covering membranes
002
b
  • Locules of the capsule with covering membranes, which are sometimes incomplete
002
Backtrack a
  • Nectary composed of 5 or 6 (in Corpuscularia ) pits or hollows, sometimes surmounted by rudimentary glands
002
b
  • Nectary not composed of pits or hollows
002
Backtrack a
  • Annuals
  • Herbaceous parts papillose
  • Leaves flat, entire or pinnatifid
Cleretum
b
  • Perennials, herbaceous parts not papillose
  • Leaves thick, usually acutely keeled and dentate
Stomatium
Backtrack a
  • Capsule dehiscing in dry conditions
  • Valves without expanding keels, remaining ± erect (except in Conicosia species, previously in Herrea , where the capsule breaks up into separate segments)
002
b
  • Capsule dehiscing in wet conditions
  • Valves with expanding keels, widely spreading or recurved when fully expanded
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves flat
  • Stigmas 5
  • Capsule closing again if placed in water
Saphesia
b
  • Leaves triquetrous or terete or subterete
  • Stigmas more than 10
Conicosia
Backtrack a
  • Nectary composed of separate glands, which in Mossia are so close as to form an almost annular nectary
002
b
  • Nectary annular
002
Backtrack a
  • Petals united at the base
  • Staminodes and stamens joined at the corolla tube
Ruschianthus
b
  • Petals not united at the base
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves entirely united to form an ovoid or subglobose body, pubescent with deflexed hairs
Muiria
b
  • Leaves not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves fenestrate at the apex
Frithia
b
  • Leaves not fenestrate
002
Backtrack a
  • Capsule very small, with thin walls, sometimes breaking up into 5 parts, or whitish with 6 locules
002
b
  • Capsule not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves glistening, finely papillose, to hairy
002
b
  • Leaves rough or smooth in texture, greyish to silvery green
002
Backtrack a
  • Plants minute, lower than 15 mm
Ectotropis
b
  • Plants small to medium-sized shrubs or herbs
Delosperma
Backtrack a
  • Capsules with dark persistent petals on top, valves not closing again completely
Corpuscularia
b
  • Capsules without persistent petals, closing again after opening
Hartmanthus
Backtrack a
  • Compact plants with internodes enclosed
002
b
  • Plants ± loosely branched with internodes visible
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves usually rough (in R. macradenium smooth), not papillose
Rhinephyllum
b
  • Leaves very smooth
  • Bracts present
Carruanthus
Backtrack a
  • Plants creeping
  • Leaves with feint dark spots
Mossia
b
  • Plants occasionally creeping
  • Leaves often with visible water storage cells
Delosperma
Backtrack a
  • Petals stiff and rather thick, staying fresh longer than is known in any other genus except Dactylopsis
Nelia
b
  • Petals not as above, ± fugitive
002
Backtrack a
  • Sepals and petals united to form a calyx tube and corolla tube
Conophytum
b
  • Sepals and petals free at base
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves expanded and flat
002
b
  • Leaves not expanded and flat
002
Backtrack a
  • Flowers opening in the afternoon
  • Petals yellow
  • Plants annual, sun-loving
Apatesia
b
  • Flowers opening in the morning
  • Petals white
  • Plants not annual, shade-loving
Skiatophytum
Backtrack a
  • Plants resembling clusters of grapes on account of the rounded, grape-like or club-shaped leaves
Jensenobotrya
b
  • Plants not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Peduncle with bracts
002
b
  • Peduncle bractless
002
Backtrack a
  • Herbaceous parts with sand adhering to the viscid epidermis
Psammophora
b
  • Herbaceous parts not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves acutely keeled upwards
  • Sepals 6
Conophytum
b
  • Leaves not acutely keeled
  • Sepals 5
002
Backtrack a
  • Shrubby
  • Petals whitish
  • Staminodes present
Zeuktophyllum
b
  • Dwarf, compact plants
  • Petals yellow, with or without a central, red stripe
  • Staminodes absent
Nananthus
Backtrack a
  • Compact plants with internodes enclosed in the leaf sheaths
002
b
  • Plants with elongated branches
  • Some of the internodes visible
002
Backtrack a
  • Sepals 4
Juttadinteria
b
  • Sepals 5-10
002
Backtrack a
  • Stigmas 9-25
Namibia
b
  • Stigmas 4-10
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaf pairs not forming bodies
Schwantesia
b
  • Leaf pairs forming bodies
002
Backtrack a
  • Petals in the lower half white, in the upper half purplish
Oophytum
b
  • Petals yellow or white
002
Backtrack a
  • Apex of leaves ± flattened
  • Sepals 4-7
Lithops
b
  • Apex of leaves not flattened, if flattened (as in D. pole-evansii and D. vanzijlii ) sepals 8-10
Dinteranthus
Backtrack a
  • Creeping
  • Leaf pairs of one form
  • Flowers nocturnal
Neohenricia
b
  • Erect
  • Leaf pairs of two, or at flowering time of three different forms
  • Flowers diurnal
Mitrophyllum
Backtrack a
  • Locules without closing bodies (closing bodies occasionally present in Drosanthemum and Trichodiadema )
002
b
  • Locules of the capsule with closing bodies (sometimes obscure or absent in Aloinopsis and Antimima , very small in Antegibbaeum and uncertain in Calamophyllum )
002
Backtrack a
  • Annuals
002
b
  • Perennials
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves pinnatifid
Aethephyllum
b
  • Leaves entire
002
Backtrack a
  • Stigmas 5, hardening and accrescent with age and persisting throughout the fruiting stage
Dorotheanthus
b
  • Stigmas 12-20, withering with the rest of the flower before the fruit matures
Carpanthea
Backtrack a
  • Leaf pairs of two or of three different forms, or as persistent membranous sheaths protecting the subsequent developing leaf pair
002
b
  • Leaf pairs of one form (or in Drosanthemum diversifolium dimorphic)
002
Backtrack a
  • Internodes invisible
  • Lower pair of leaves not always evident
002
b
  • Some internodes visible
  • Lower pair of leaves always evident
002
Backtrack a
  • Upper leaf pair spreading or prostrate on the ground, much more united on one side than on the other
  • Flowers sessile
Diplosoma
b
  • Upper leaf pair erect or suberect or ascending, symmetrically united below
  • Flowers usually moniliform
  • Staminodes absent
Monilaria
Backtrack a
  • Plants creeping, rooting at nodes
  • Leaves toothed
Hammeria
b
  • Plants not rooting at nodes
  • Leaves not toothed
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaf pairs trimorphic at flowering time
Mitrophyllum
b
  • Leaf pairs dimorphic throughout
002
Backtrack a
  • Sepals 4
  • Staminodes present
Dicrocaulon
b
  • Sepals 5 or 6
  • Staminodes absent
002
Backtrack a
  • Lower leaf pairs oviform in earlier stages
  • Petals rather lax, rose or rose-purple
Meyerophytum
b
  • Lower leaf pairs bead-like
  • Petals dense, white, or white and rose in the same species
Monilaria
Backtrack a
  • Nectary composed of separate glands, which rarely may be contiguous and form an almost annular nectary
002
b
  • Nectary annular or indistinct
002
Backtrack a
  • Sepals and petals connate below
  • Style present
Gibbaeum
b
  • Sepals and petals not connate
  • Style absent
002
Backtrack a
  • Herbaceous parts papillose
002
b
  • Herbaceous parts not papillose
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves usually crowned with spreading or erect bristles, or their vestiges
Trichodiadema
b
  • Leaves without terminal bristles (tubercle in locules of capsule very rarely present)
Drosanthemum
Backtrack a
  • Plants creeping
002
b
  • Plants not creeping
002
Backtrack a
  • Petals yellow
Chasmatophyllum
b
  • Petals white
Mossia
Backtrack a
  • Flowers cymose
Oscularia
b
  • Flowers solitary
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves dentate, teeth ending in a bristle
Faucaria
b
  • Leaves entire
002
Backtrack a
  • Peduncle bractless
Gibbaeum
b
  • Peduncle bracteate
002
Backtrack a
  • Petals purple-rose
Cerochlamys
b
  • Petals yellow
Rabiea
Backtrack a
  • Petals yellow (red-orange in Titanopsis hugo-schlechteri )
002
b
  • Petals rose-purple, pink, red, pallid or white
002
Backtrack a
  • Stigmas 10
Vanheerdea
b
  • Stigmas 5-7
002
Backtrack a
  • Compact plants with internodes enclosed in the leaf sheaths
002
b
  • Erect, decumbent or creeping plants with internodes visible
002
Backtrack a
  • Glabrous
  • Leaves warted or pustulate in the upper part
  • Sepals and stigmas 6
Titanopsis
b
  • Receptacle and sepals pubescent
  • Leaves without warts or pustules (microscopically granulated)
  • Sepals 7
  • Stigmas 6 or 7
Lapidaria
Backtrack a
  • Leaf keel serrate
Circandra
b
  • Leaf keel entire
002
Backtrack a
  • Valves of the expanded capsule winged
Lampranthus
b
  • Valves of the expanded capsule not winged
Scopelogena
Backtrack a
  • Stigmas 8-14
002
b
  • Stigmas 5 or 6
002
Backtrack a
  • Stigmas minute, completely hidden by staminodes and stamens
002
b
  • Stigmas not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaf keels entire
Smicrostigma
b
  • Leaf keels lacerate
Erepsia
Backtrack a
  • Peduncle bracteate
002
b
  • Peduncle bractless
002
Backtrack a
  • Low, compact plants
  • Sepals 5
Dracophilus
b
  • Shrubby plants, 150-300 mm high
  • Sepals 4
002
Backtrack a
  • Herbaceous parts smooth
  • Stamens not papillose
  • Seeds echinate
Namaquanthus
b
  • Herbaceous parts appearing as if dusted with grey powder
  • Stamens papillose
  • Seeds smooth
Wooleya
Backtrack a
  • Staminodes present
  • Valves of the expanded capsule not winged
Khadia
b
  • Staminodes absent, valves of the expanded capsule winged
Jacobsenia
(= Drosanthemopsis )
Backtrack a
  • Herbaceous parts ± papillose
002
b
  • Herbaceous parts not papillose
002
Backtrack a
  • Sepals and stigmas 5
Jacobsenia
b
  • Sepals and stigmas 6
Drosanthemum
Backtrack a
  • Flowers terminating the previous year's growth, otherwise developing axillary shoots
Didymaotus
b
  • Flowers not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Flowers in conspicuously branched, pedunculate cymes
  • Rootstock remarkably large and sometimes tuberous
Mestoklema
b
  • Flowers and rootstock not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Herbaceous parts hairy
Braunsia
b
  • Herbaceous parts smooth
002
Backtrack a
  • Seeds echinate
Braunsia
b
  • Seeds not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Valves of the expanded capsule winged
Lampranthus
b
  • Valves of the expanded capsule not winged
002
Backtrack a
  • Fruit 5-7-locular
  • Flowers with 6 sepals
  • Petals sparse, pink
Vlokia
b
  • Fruit (4)5-11-locular
  • Flowers with 5 or 6 sepals
  • Petals more abundant, white, pink or magenta
Khadia
Backtrack a
  • Stigmas 5 or 6
002
b
  • Stigmas more than 6 (or 6 in some species of Khadia )
002
Backtrack a
  • Petals purple-red, pink or white
002
b
  • Petals yellow, golden or orange-red
002
Backtrack a
  • Nectary composed of separate glands
Cerochlamys
b
  • Nectary annular
002
Backtrack a
  • Placental tubercle 2-lobed
Disphyma
b
  • Placental tubercle not 2-lobed
002
Backtrack a
  • Peduncle not spinescent
002
b
  • Some or all of the peduncles spinescent
002
Backtrack a
  • Herbaceous parts with sand adhering to the viscid epidermis
Arenifera
b
  • Herbaceous parts not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Capsule in the lower part isolated into mericarps
Ruschianthemum
b
  • Capsule not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Valves of the expanded capsule winged
002
b
  • Valves of the expanded capsule wingless
002
Backtrack a
  • Shrubby
  • Internodes visible
  • Cymes often conspicuously branched
002
b
  • Dwarf, compact plants
  • Internodes enclosed
  • Flowers solitary or 1-3-nate
002
Backtrack a
  • Capsule not closing again after first opening
Stoeberia
b
  • Capsule not as above
Amphibolia
Backtrack a
  • Leaves laterally compressed in the upper part
  • Flowers finally 2- or 3-nate
Ebracteola
b
  • Leaves cylindrical or subcylindrical
  • Flowers solitary
002
Backtrack a
  • Bracts large, sometimes exceeding the flowers
  • Sepals 5
Cylindrophyllum
b
  • Bracts very small
  • Sepals 6
Antegibbaeum
Backtrack a
  • Seeds echinate or rough
Astridia
b
  • Seeds not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves toothed to a greater or lesser extent, or with one or two mucros at the apex
002
b
  • Leaves not toothed, with or without mucros at apex
002
Backtrack a
  • Closing bodies white
  • Pollen white
Acrodon
b
  • Closing bodies brownish or colourless
  • Pollen yellow
Ruschia
Backtrack a
  • Roots tuberous
Marlothistella
b
  • Roots not as above
Antimima
Backtrack a
  • Valves bend backwards more than 180 degrees when capsule is wet
  • Valve wings broad and rectangular
Eberlanzia
b
  • Valves do not reach horizontal position when fruit is wet
  • Valve wings rudimentary
Ruschia subgenus Spinosa
Backtrack a
  • Leaf pairs of two different forms at flowering time
  • Nectary annular
Mitrophyllum
b
  • Leaf pairs of one form
  • Nectary composed of separate glands
002
Backtrack a
  • Wings of the locules of the expanded capsules erect
Orthopterum
b
  • Wings not erect
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves short and thick, polymorphic
  • Valves erect in expanded capsule
Bijlia
b
  • Leaves not as above
  • Valves widely spreading or recurved
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves usually triquetrous
002
b
  • Leaves not triquetrous, one of a pair often slightly differing in form from the other
002
Backtrack a
  • Filaments papillate
  • Stigmas 5
  • Keels of valves in expanded capsule diverging from the base
  • Closing bodies large
Bergeranthus
b
  • Filaments epapillate
  • Stigmas 5 or 6
  • Keels parallel below
  • Closing bodies small
Machairophyllum
Backtrack a
  • Closing bodies with a dividing line in the middle
Rhombophyllum
b
  • Closing bodies not as above
Hereroa
Backtrack a
  • Leaves fenestrate at the apex
Fenestraria
b
  • Leaves not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Petals filiform-linear, white, often in 5 groups
Polymita
b
  • Petals not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Plants dwarf, compact
002
b
  • Plants with ± elongated branches with at least some of the internodes visible, except in young plants of the shrubby Ottosonderia
002
Backtrack a
  • Peduncle bractless
002
b
  • Peduncle with bracts
002
Backtrack a
  • Petals pink or rose-purple
  • Staminodes present
Khadia
b
  • Petals yellow or rarely white
  • Staminodes absent
Glottiphyllum
Backtrack a
  • Leaf pairs of two different forms
Cheiridopsis
b
  • Leaf pairs of one form
002
Backtrack a
  • Receptacle produced above the ovary into a tube
  • Stamens deflexed
  • Stigmas obscurely defined, forming a viscid, circular pulvinus
Argyroderma
b
  • Receptacle, stamens and stigmas not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Herbaceous parts glabrous
002
b
  • Herbaceous parts pilose or pubescent
002
Backtrack a
  • Rootstock (where known) tuberous
002
b
  • Rootstock not tuberous
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves velvety, appearing dust-covered, long-triangular
Deilanthe
b
  • Leaves rough-textured, spoon-shaped
Aloinopsis
Backtrack a
  • Nectary usually composed of separate glands
Machairophyllum
b
  • Nectary annular (unknown in Calamophyllum )
002
Backtrack a
  • Petals pallid, rose, rose-purple or deep red
002
b
  • Petals yellow, golden or orange-red
002
Backtrack a
  • Flowers not solitary
Cephalophyllum
b
  • Flowers solitary
002
Backtrack a
  • Sepals 5
Cylindrophyllum
b
  • Sepals 4
Calamophyllum
Backtrack a
  • Fruit 10-locular, convex on top, with tiny closing bodies
Tanquana
b
  • Fruit 9-15-locular, with large white to brown closing bodies
Pleiospilos
Backtrack a
  • Leaves obtusely keeled, dentate or denticulate
Odontophorus
b
  • Leaves entire or rarely with the keels only dentate, in which case they are acutely keeled upwards
Cheiridopsis
Backtrack a
  • Inflorescence persisting for several years and eventually becoming an obconic cyme, the axils of the previous year's highly succulent hypsophylls (bract-like leaves within the inflorescence) normally producing one to several flowers which represent the annual growth
Ottosonderia
b
  • Inflorescence not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaf pairs of two different forms
Vanzijlia
b
  • Leaf pairs of one form
002
Backtrack a
  • Peduncle with bracts
002
b
  • Peduncle bractless
002
Backtrack a
  • Sepals 4
002
b
  • Sepals 5 or 6
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves denticulate, shorter than 20 mm
Octopoma
b
  • Leaves entire, 40-60 mm long
002
Backtrack a
  • Filaments papillose
  • Stigmas 8
  • Seeds smooth
Enarganthe
b
  • Filaments not papillose
  • Stigmas 8-12
  • Seeds echinate
Namaquanthus
Backtrack a
  • Sepals 6
Schlechteranthus
b
  • Sepals 5
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves shorter than 20 mm - > 0 flowers sessile or subsessile
Octopoma
b
  • Leaves longer than 20 mm
  • Flowers pedunculate
002
Backtrack a
  • Herbaceous parts pubescent
002
b
  • Herbaceous parts glabrous
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves dentate
Odontophorus
b
  • Leaves entire
Cheiridopsis
Backtrack a
  • Leaves rough, sometimes dentate
Cheiridopsis
b
  • Leaves not as above
002
Backtrack a
  • Usually decumbent and often creeping
  • Stigmas 10 or more
002
b
  • Usually erect or, if decumbent, not creeping
  • Stigmas 10 or fewer
002
Backtrack a
  • Leaves tapering at both ends
  • Fruit squarish-looking on top with valves bent at a ± 90 degree angle
Jordaaniella
b
  • Leaves spindle-, quill- or club-shaped
  • Capsules not as above
Cephalophyllum
Backtrack a
  • Leaves acutely keeled
  • Valve wings absent
Stayneria
b
  • Leaves obtusely keeled
  • Valve wings present
002
Backtrack a
  • Plants upright
Leipoldtia
b
  • Plants creeping
Hallianthus
Backtrack a
  • Leaves of a pair dissimilar and unequal in length, the large more than 50 mm long, sometimes with a marginal tooth or hump, or with a conspicuous white margin
Glottiphyllum
b
  • Leaves of a pair similar and about equal in length, shorter than 50 mm, entire and without a white margin
Malephora

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