e-Key v3 - Ke<span id="jodit_selection_marker_1706523741949_10071657102077869" data-jodit_selection_marker="start" style="line-height: 0; display: none;"></span>y to Mesembryanthem<span id="jodit_selection_marker_1706523741949_66024353581201" data-jodit_selection_marker="end" style="line-height: 0; display: none;"></span>aceae 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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