Conophytum pellucidum

PLANTAE / PHANEROGAMAE / ANTHOPHYTA / CARYOPHYLLALES / AIZOACEAE / RUSCHIOIDEAE / RUSCHIEAE / CONOPHYTUM / PELLUCIDUM / PELLUCIDUM / TERRICOLOR

Conophytum pellucidum Schwantes subsp. pellucidum var. terricolor (Tischer) Littlew. ex S.A.Hammer

Appendix III Indigenous Endemic

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Morphological description

Plant sparsely to densely caespitose, partially sunken, sometimes retreating entirely underground. Sheath thin, whitish brown, spotted, impersistent. Bodies 5-20 x 5-8 x 3-5 mm, long-cylindric, flattened and pitted on the top, usually divided into two short lobes; fissure short or long, slightly sunken, papillate. Epidermis glabrous, dull or glossy, ‘earth-coloured’ to grey-black or grey-tan, centrally windowed, window sunken, ‘irregularly bordered’, with further micro-windows on the mantle and sides, spotted from numerous tannin spots. Flowers appearing in mid- to late-summer or autumn, diurnal, scentless. Calyx-tube membranous, greenish to brown, with 4-5 short-dimpled sepals; corolla-tube to 25 mm long, narrow, whitish, petals 25-40 in 2-4 series, to 12 mm long, narrow or broadened at the tips, white, sometimes tinged rose, inner staminodes filamentaceous, usually forming a 1-2-seriate yellow to orange or pure white ring, stamens short, confined to the base of the tube, anthers bright yellow; style very short, stigmas 4-6, ca. 2-3 mm long. Capsule 2 x 3 mm, sharply angled, pale brown; seeds very numerous, 0.50 mm long, grossly pustulate. From: Hammer, SA. 2002. Dumpling and his Wife: New views of the genus Conophytum. EAE Creative Colour Ltd., Norwich. [All rights reserved]

Diagnostic description

The most lithops-like of species, C. pellucidum is brownskinned, windowed, and ornately marked. As presented here, its several nested variants constitute a super-species, viz., subsp .pellucidum: a long-fissured, flat to convex window, usually ornamented with bubbles and lacking conspicuous papillae, flowers white to pink; subsp. pellucidum var. lilianum: dwarf, with flaring, finely speckled lobes and brilliant flowers, often tricoloured (rose and white with a deep orange throat); subsp. pellucidum var. neohallii: truncate, more checkerboard than window, bubbles absent, flowers white; subsp. pellucidum var. terricolor. a dark and depressed window, sometimes with bubbles at the edge of its bathtub, flowers white; subsp. cupreatum: short-fissured, smooth non-bubbled leaves, ‘dusted’ with papillae, white to pink flowers; subsp. cupreatum var. terrestre: longer papillae (trichomes), irregularly ‘eroded’ or grooved sides, white flowers; subsp. saueri: tiny, convex, smooth, bronze tops, a discreet fissure, and pale orange flowers with uniquely occluded reddish centres. From the C. lithopsoides complex this can usually and rather weakly be distinguished by combinations of characters: white petals, smaller size, bubbles, pronounced lobes, gneissophily, but the overlap is heavy and one usually resorts to Gestalt phrenology for identification. From: Hammer, SA. 2002. Dumpling and his Wife: New views of the genus Conophytum. EAE Creative Colour Ltd., Norwich. [All rights reserved]

Distribution

Var. terricolor has a split and troubling distribution. For many kilometres west of Springbok the plants are uniformly etched; this form also occurs north and northwest of Springbok, up to Steinkopf. North of Concordia the classic form alternates with its opposite, the normal bubbled form of C. pellucidum, on separate domes. On a side-road southwest of Springbok, the plants have narrow faces with bat-winged patterns (first recorded by Doreen Court); further on, a local form has green and bronze bodies which shrivel radically. East of Garies, up Studer’s Pass and on to Saalberg, var. terricolor occurs in a softened version, having the requisite blackened pattern but not quite the expected depth of intaglio. Between Paulshoek and Kliprand there is a shift into the following three taxa. From: Hammer, SA. 2002. Dumpling and his Wife: New views of the genus Conophytum. EAE Creative Colour Ltd., Norwich. [All rights reserved]

Altitude

350 to 1150 m

Occurrence records map

This map contains point-based occurrences at different locations

iNaturalist: BODATSA: Data partners records:

Residence status

Occurrence in the Flora of Southern Africa (FSA) countries and South African provinces. Residence status indicates if a taxon is indigenous, endemic, naturalised or invasive in a specific region. This data is based on specimen records and literature

FSA

BOT

NAM

ESW

LES