Description:

• Shrublets, ± 150 mm high, densely branched
• Leaves slightly connate at base, members of a leaf pair somewhat unequal in size and shape; younger ones green and viscid, increasingly covered by adhering dust and sand with age, surface glaucous and rough, with warty elevations above the subhypodermal tannin idioblasts, obtuse, somewhat convex; up to 25 mm long and 5 mm broad and thick, somewhat curved and blunt above and along sides; shorter leaves 6-15 mm long, ± 7 mm diameter
• Flowers in ternate inflorescence, with lateral ones sometimes developing rather slowly; peduncle terete, central pedicel without bracts; flowers open at midday
• Petals 2-seriate, recurved, linear, obtuse or subacute, ± 22 mm in diameter, pale rose to light violet, with an inconspicuous, central band
• Sepals 4, almost equal, interior ones with a broad, membranous margin
• Stamens with surrounding staminodes; filaments sparingly bearded at base; anthers and pollen whitish
• Nectary a dark green crenulate ring
• Ovary slightly convex above; placentas parietal; stigmas 8, long, subulate, conspicuously fringed at base
• Fruit a 8-locular capsule, of Ruschia type but with valve wings, turbinate, ± 8 mm in diameter, woody, cupular, margins of valves prominent, forming a small column in centre; valves transversely ribbed, with 2 conspicuous, recurved teeth at tip; valve wings large; expanding keels parallel, diverging widely at tips; covering membranes half covering locules, additional closing devices (projections) at opening; closing bodies conspicuous
• Seeds long, quadrangular, somewhat convex, finely ribbed longitudinally, light yellowish brown

• Flowering autumn and winter

• Distinguishing characters:
  • Many-branched perennials with reddish brown stems
  • Leaves often with adhering sand
  • Fruit 6-8-locular

Nomenclature:

• Arenifera A.G.J.Herre
  • Herre: 35 (1948)
  • Hartmann: 29 (1996)
  • Smith et al.: 346 (1998)

Distribution & Notes:

• Southern Africa: Species 4, Northern and Western Cape, from the Richtersveld to Calvinia in the Northern Cape, and the Knersvlakte to Matjiesfontein in the Western Cape