Description:

• Compact, tufted, dwarf to somewhat shrubby perennials; isophyllous or heterophyllous, rarely with a compact storage root
• Leaves opposite, 1 or 2 pairs to a branch, up to 3 pairs in cultivation variably united, withering, leaf sheath of one pair developing into a prominent, papery, dry sleeve, short or long, triangular, rarely flattened or hood-shaped, green to glaucous-green, often with 1 or 2 small teeth along keel or near apex; epidermis papillate, covered with waxy compound, surface ± velvety, sometimes with prominent elevations above subhypodermal tannin idioblast layer
• Flowers solitary, terminal, mostly pedicellate, with bracts, 10-100 mm in diameter; opening around midday and closing by sunset; scented
• Sepals 4 or 5
• Petals in several series, free, various shades of yellow, rarely purple or red
• Stamens many; staminodes 0
• Nectary a crenulate ring
• Ovary: top raised at first, becoming depressed in fruit; placentas parietal to basal; stigmas 10-20, ± plumose
• Fruit a 10-20-locular capsule, of Leipoldtia type with rather straight covering membranes and reduced additional closing devices; often with dorsal appendages (wings, tubes, flanges) on the covering membranes; with narrow, widely spreading or reflexed valves; diverging expanding keels with membranous, awn-like points; valve wings usually 0; closing bodies large
• Seeds pear-shaped, obtusely 3-angled, smooth or rough, whitish to brownish
• x = 9 (polyploidy)

• Flowering from autumn to early spring

• Distinguishing characters:
  • Mostly tufted, variable perennials
  • Leaf pairs closely pressed together, old leaves sometimes forming papery sheaths
  • Flower stalk may be curved
  • Fruit 10-20-locular, with awn-like points at ends of valves

Nomenclature:

• Cheiridopsis N.E.Br.
  • Brown: 433 (1925)
  • Brown: 406 (1926)
  • Friedrich: 24 (1970)
  • Herre: 114 (1971)
  • Hartmann & Dehn: 567 (1987)
  • Hammer: 75 (1993)
  • Hammer: 59 (1995)
  • Smith et al.: 206 (1998)

Distribution & Notes:

• Southern Africa: Species 33, in a broad band stretching from Lüderitz, in Namibia, southwards through the Richtersveld and Namaqualand in the Northern Cape, to the northern parts of the Western Cape
  • The largest concentration of species is in the vicinity of Steinkopf and Platbakkies