Region: Namibia, Northern Cape province of South Africa.
BotanyWoody based plant; 30 cm high.
Stem: base woody; softer ascending stems.
Leaves: whorled; greyish green; lower leaves crowded together and fleshy; upper leaves arranged in whorls of five to ten, narrowly linear, hairless.
Inflorescence: ± umbellate.
Flowers: individual; pedicels long, thin; 20 to 30 stamens, most united at the base into 3 to 5 groups.
Seeds: black; shiny.
TaxonomyHypertelis was first described by Eduard Fenzl and placed in the family
Portulacaceae.
Hypertelis spergulacea has been called Mollugo linearis by some authors. Hypertelis had grown to nine species by 2011. Most of the former species in Hypertelis have been transferred to the new genus Kewa close to the families
Aizoaceae,
Phytolaccaceae and
Nyctaginaceae. Hypotelis spergulacea can be distinguished from Kewa by its stamens. It has more stamens, 20 to 30 rather than 3 to 15 and they are arranged in bundles. Its leaves are arranged in whorls, relatively far apart, rather than being alternate or more-or-less opposite along the stems, as in Kewa.