Delosperma napiforme

Description

Delosperma napiforme (also known as Mestoklema macrorrhizum) is a dwarf perennial plant, native to the French Island of Réunion, but also now found in Madagascar. It has white flowers It can be cultivated in a wide range of areas with a Mediterranean climate such as California. It can withstand wet summers and cold moist winters which makes it unusual in climatic requirements for this genus. Delosperma is a genus of around 170 species of succulent plants, formerly included in Mesembryanthemum in the family Aizoaceae. It was defined by English botanist N. E. Brown in 1925. The genus is common in southern and eastern Africa. Delosperma species, as do most Aizoaceae, have hygrochastic capsules, opening and closing as they wet and dry. Plants of the genus Delosperma can be distinguished by their seed capsules. When these open (in response to rain), the seeds are exposed and not covered by a protective membrane, like those of most other plants in the family. The membrane is sometimes reduced to just a ledge (a feature shared by the related genus Trichodiadema. The triangular valves, which open outwards when wet, each have distinctive wings on either side. Delosperma leaves tend to grooved or covered in bladder cells, which are sometimes even extended into hairs. The leaf shape is cylindrical or sometimes flattened.