Synonym: Mesembryanthemum aquosum; Mesembryanthemum hypertrophicum.
Region: South Western Namibia, Namaqualand, Northern Cape, South Africa.
Habitat: on braksand or light clay on pans or gentle slopes, along coast road, along south bank of rivers, in winter rainfall areas; in disturbed places; arid areas, with rare rainfalls.
BotanySucculent annual herb; fast growing; leaves have a comparatively high storage capacity which enables the plant to form flowers and to produce seeds for a long period independent from external water supply.
Stems: Annual, decumbent to 25 cm tall, 100 cm in diameter without a basal vegetative rosette, prostrate when in flower. Internodes terete, up to 10 mm in diameter.
Leaves: ccylindrical, straight; 7 cm long and 1 cm thick; enlarged central water-storing cells, bladder cells (water vesicles) inconspicuous or flattened.
Flowers: open day and night; scented at dusk; up to 60 mm in diameter; petals whitish to pale yellow, upper parts sometimes pink, very narrow, fused into a tube; filamentous staminodes and stamens very numerous, nectaries tubular, stigmas pale yellow.
Fruits: capsules with valve wings reflexed and fused in pairs.
Seeds: whitish to light brown, testa smooth; 3 types, a fast germinating, a slow germinating and a deep dormant portion.
LiteratureDieter J. von Willert “Life Strategies of Succulents in Deserts: With Special Reference to the Namib Desert” CUP Archive, 13 February 1992
Karen van Rheede van Oudtshoorn, Margaretha W. van Rooyen “Dispersal Biology of Desert
Plants” Springer
Science & Business Media, 09 March 2013
Excelsa, Edizioni 13-17, Aloe, Cactus and Succulent
Society of Rhodesia, 1988
Heidrun E.K. Hartmann “Illustrated Handbook of Succulent
Plants:
Aizoaceae F-Z” Springer
Science & Business Media, 2002
The Cactus and Succulent Journal of Great Britain, Volume 33 Cactus & Succulent
Society of Great Britain., 1971
von Willert, D. J., Eller, B. M., Werger, M. J. A., Brinckmann, E. and Ihlenfeldt, H.-D. (1992). “Life Strategies of Succulents in Deserts: With Special Reference to the
Namib Desert.” Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
W. Richard J. Dean, Suzanne Milton “The Karoo: Ecological Patterns and Processes” Cambridge University Press, 24 June 1999
Wells, M.J., Balsinhas, V.M., Joffe, H., Engelbrecht, V.M., Harding, G. and Stirton, C.H. (1986) “A Catalogue of Problem
Plants in Southern Africa, incorporating The National Weed List of South Africa.” Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa No. 53. Botanical
Research Institute, Pretoria, South Africa.
Opophytum aquosum “Risultati di ricerca
Opophytum aquosum information from the “Global Compendium of Weeds” http://www.hear.org/gcw/species/opophytum_aquosum/
Norbert Jürges et al. “Desest biome” in: Strelitzia 19 2006.
Holotype of
Opophytum aquosum (L.Bolus) N.E.Br.
BOL128669 web: http://plants.jstor.org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.specimen.bol128669