''Ruschia'' is a genus of succulent
plant
Plants are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all curr ...
, 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 New ...
, indigenous to the dryer parts of
southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number ...
.
Description
Typical features of the genus include grey or blue-green succulent leaves, that are 3-sided or triangular in cross-section and are often covered with tiny darker transparent spots. Occasionally the leaves also have toothed margins.
Another common feature is the small, year-round, pink or white flower clusters.
[J. Manning: ''Field Guide to Fynbos''. Struik, 2007. p.334.]
The genus can be distinguished with certainty though, by its seed capsules. As with most Aizoaceae, these are
hygrochastic
Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that op ...
, with triangular valves that open and close with changes in humidity. The seed capsule valves of ''Ruschia'' have a little closing body to pull them closed when they dry again, and two keels on either side of the closing body, which expand and push open the valve. There is a covering membrane too, which partially covers the seeds, to prevent them all being washed away immediately.
In contrast, the seed chambers of ''
Delosperma'' have no covering membrane, leaving the seeds entirely exposed when the capsule opens. The seed chamber valves of genus ''
Lampranthus
''Lampranthus'' is a genus of succulent plants in the family Aizoaceae, indigenous to southern Africa.
Description
The genus name ''"Lampranthus"'' means ''"shining-flowers"'' in Greek, and the species of this genus have unusually large, brig ...
'' have only the two expanding keels while the closing body is present, but not visible, and ''Lampranthus'' valves also have wings on either side.
Species
Over 400 species are described, though many have subsequently been moved to the new genus ''
Antimima''. 208 species are accepted by
Plants of the World Online
Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants ...
.
Species occur in
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a populatio ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
(including the Cape Provinces, Free State and Northern Provinces) and
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 e ...
:
References
Aizoaceae genera
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Plants described in 1926
Flora of Southern Africa
{{Aizoaceae-stub