Description:

• Dwarf perennials forming dense, compact clumps up to 100 mm high, 200 mm in diameter
• Leaves opposite, 4(6 per branch, connate at base, semi-ovoid to trigonous, velvety, greyish from flaky wax cover; epidermis xeromorphic, papillae longer than their basal diameter, uniform over entire surface
• Flowers solitary, terminal, sessile or shortly pedicellate, up to 30 mm in diameter; often not perfectly round but somewhat 4-sided in appearance; opening in morning and closing in evening (N. cinerea opens in morning and remains open thereafter)
• Sepals 5, unequal, finely papillate
• Petals 1-seriate, pink, rarely white
• Stamens collected in a cone, with bearded filaments; staminodes 0
• Nectary a crenulate ring
• Ovary concave on top with a central cone; placentas parietal; stigmas (9-)12(-28), subulate
• Fruit a (9-)12(-28)-locular capsule, close to Delosperma type; convex; expanding keels parallel along base and diverging and lacerate towards tips, with oblong valve wings; covering membranes reduced to limb or 0; closing devices 0

• Flowering mid-winter to late spring

• Distinguishing characters:
  • Dense, compact perennials
  • Leaves thick, basally fused, velvety, waxy
  • Flowers solitary, pink or white, square-looking
  • Opening in the morning or perpetually open

Nomenclature:

• Namibia (Schwantes) Schwantes
  • Schwantes: 106 (1927)
  • Walgate: 171 (1939)
  • Herre: 224 (1971)
  • Smith et al.: 120 (1998)
• Juttadinteria subg. Namibia Schwantes
  • Schwantes: 182 (1926)

Distribution & Notes:

• Southern Africa: Species 2, occurs in the surroundings of Lüderitz in SW Namibia and also a few kilometres east of Prince of Wales Bay, ± 60 km south of Lüderitz