Faucaria
Faucaria tigrina
Faucaria is a plant genus of the family of Mesembryanthemum plants ( Aizoaceae ). The botanical name of the genus derives from the Latin noun " faux " for " throat " and refers to the serrated leaves of the genus, which look like an open, perforated animal throat.
Description
The plants of the genus Faucaria grow compact. Some species form with age from short thick rhizomes, others have something thick taproots. Her dark green, yellow-green, reddish purple or rarely bluish leaves are broadly triangular. The leaf margins are white and cartilaginous, clearly dentate or rarely smooth. In some species the teeth are elongated and ends in a thin thread. The epidermis is smooth and rarely provided with bumps.
The individual high leafless blooms sit between the leaves. There are five sepals present. Their petals are yellow to golden yellow. Filiform staminodes absent. The yellow stamens are often white at the base. The scars are as high as the stamens are long. There are five nectaries present.
The five (rarely six ) fächrigen capsule fruits sit at up to 3.5 mm long stalks. They are compressed laterally, at the base wide bell-shaped and at the top either almost hemispherical or substantially conical. The flaps of the fruit have very wide wing flaps which open only once. The dark brown, pear-shaped to tetrahedral seeds are 1.4 to 1.7 mm long and 0.9 to 1.4 millimeters wide.
Systematics and distribution
The distribution of the genus Faucaria extends into South Africa from the western districts of the Western Cape Province by parts of the Eastern Cape Province. The plants often grow under shrubs on stony ground and rarely in clay. The rainfall in the months of March and November is more than 200 millimeters.
The first description was in 1926 by Gustav Schwantes. The holotype is Faucaria tigrina. After Heidrun Hartmann ( b. 1942 ), the genus Faucaria includes the following types:
- Faucaria bosscheana ( A.Berger ) Schwantes
- Faucaria britteniae L.Bolus
- Faucaria felina ( Weston ) Schwantes
- Faucaria gratiae L.Bolus
- Faucaria nemorosa L.Bolus L.E.Groen ex
- Faucaria subintegra L.Bolus
- Faucaria tigrina ( Haw. ) Schwantes
- Faucaria tuberculous ( Rolfe ) Schwantes