SUCCULENT SUNDAY: Argyroderma, pale Martian globes with purple topknot

Also posted at SentientMeat.Net

This Argyroderma startled me the other day. I hadn't noticed the bud forming until it I saw its shocking purple petals fully unfurled and sticking straight up.

Argyroderma grown by Mr Sentient Meat

You'll have to take my word that this flower is a purple of such intensity and depth that I've rarely seen a color to rival it. Cameras have a hard time capturing intense magenta and deep purple; my camera is no exception. In real life the petals are a much darker, deeper purple—rather than the hot magenta in this photo. You almost begin to doubt your own eyesight... as if someone has fiddled with the color knobs of the world.

Argyroderma, same bloom fully open the following day

Argyroderma is native to the quartz fields of the Knersvlakte north of Vanrhynsdorp in southern Namaqualand, in South Africa's Northern Cape. All known species in Argyroderma are from this same region.

Like all its relatives known by the monickers "Split Rock" or "Living Stone", Argyroderma is a mesemb—a member of the ice plant family Aizoaceae, formerly Mesembryanthemaceae. Try saying that 3 times fast. I have yet another geeky confession: sometimes I walk around the house repeating this family name to myself: mess-emm-bree-ann-them-AY-see-ee. If I had to explain myself, I guess I'm practicing so that I don't stumble if I have to say it in public. Try it again yourself: meh-semm-bree-ann-theh-MAY-see-ee.

This particular plant was sold to me as Argyroderma 'Purple'. I'm guessing it's cultivated from Argyroderma delaetii, a solitary species which in Nature can have white, yellow, purple, or occasionally even red flowers—in the same population.

Argyroderma blooming in habitat, photo by Etwin Aslander

See Also

Argyroderma delaetii at CactusArt.Biz 

Court, Doreen. (Third Edition, 2010). Succulent Flora of Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik Publishers. ISBN-10: 1770075879. ISBN-13: 978-1770075870.