''Fenestraria'' (known as babies' toes or window plant) is a (possibly

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

) genus of succulent plants in the family

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae, or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing 135 genera and about 1800 species. They are commonly known as ice plants or carpet weeds. They are often called vygies in South Africa and N ...

, native to the

Namaqualand Namaqualand (khoekhoe: "Nama-kwa" meaning Nama Khoe people's land) is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa, extending along the west coast over and covering a total area of . It is divided by the lower course of the Orange River into ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Description

The only species currently recognised in this genus is ''Fenestraria rhopalophylla''. Each leaf has an epidermal window, a transparent window-like area, at its rounded tip, it is for these window-like structures that the genus is named (Latin: '' fenestra''). ''Fenestraria rhopalophylla'' appears very similar to '' Frithia pulchra'', though the leaves are a slightly different shape and ''F. rhopalophylla'' has yellow flowers, compared to the pink flowers of ''F. pulchra''.

Distribution and habitat

In the wild, the plant commonly grows under sand, except for the transparent tips, which allow light into the leaves for

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored in ...

. The plant produces optical fibers made from crystalline

oxalic acid Oxalic acid is an organic acid with the systematic name ethanedioic acid and formula . It is the simplest dicarboxylic acid. It is a white crystalline solid that forms a colorless solution in water. Its name comes from the fact that early invest ...

which transmit light to subterranean photosynthetic sites. ''Fenestraria rhopalophylla'' is native to

in southern Africa and to

. The plants generally grow in sandy or calciferous soils under low < 100 mm rainfall, that occurs in the winter.

Subspecies

* ''F. rhopalophylla'' subsp. ''rhopalophylla'' with white flowers in autumn * ''F. rhopalophylla'' subsp. ''aurantiaca'' (=*''F. aurantiaca'') with yellow flowers The status of ''Fenestraria aurantiaca'' is under review to determine whether its proper status is that of a full species or a subspecies of ''Fenestraria rhopalophylla''.Fenestraria - page on Succulent Guide
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References

Aizoaceae Aizoaceae genera Monotypic Caryophyllales genera Flora of Namibia Taxa named by N. E. Brown {{Aizoaceae-stub