Operation Wildflower
  • Home
  • Albums
  • Links
    • Botanical Gardens
    • Other Sites
    • OWF Sites
  • Information
    • About Us
    • Articles
    • Contact Us
    • Disclaimer
    • Glossary
    • Plant Records
      • Aloes
      • Bulbs
      • Climbers
      • Cycads
      • Euphorbias
      • Ferns
      • Grasses
      • Herbs
      • Orchids
      • Parasites
      • Shrubs
      • Succulents
      • Trees
    • Sources of Information
    • Subject Index
Home Home » GENERA B » Bulbine » Bulbine mesembryanthemoides subsp. mesembryanthemoides
Back to Category Overview
Total images in all categories: 12,751
Total number of hits on all images: 8,210,826

Bulbine mesembryanthemoides subsp. mesembryanthemoides

Bulbine mesembryanthemoides subsp. mesembryanthemoides
Start View full size
[Please activate JavaScript in order to see the slideshow]
Previous Previous
Image 25 of 43  
Next Next
Image 27 of 43  
  • Bulbine frutescens raceme
  • Bulbine frutescens, the burn jelly plant
  • Bulbine frutescens, the useful balsam kopiva
  • Bulbine lagopus
  • Bulbine lagopus maybe
  • Bulbine latifolia
  • Bulbine latifolia pale leaves
  • Bulbine mesembryanthemoides subsp. mesembryanthemoides
  • Bulbine mesembryanthemoides subsp. mesembryanthemoides
  • Bulbine mesembryanthemoides subsp. mesembryanthemoides, the waterglasie
  • Bulbine narcissifolia flower
  • Bulbine narcissifolia leaves
  • Bulbine praemorsa
  • Bulbine praemorsa flower
  • Bulbine praemorsa flower
  • Bulbine praemorsa flowers
  • Bulbine praemorsa green fruit

Image information

Description

Bulbine mesembryanthemoides subsp. mesembryanthemoides is a very small plant with a long name. It is a leaf succulent that produces one to a few leaves from an underground tuber. The leaves are globular to rectangular succulent structures as seen from above. They are cylindrical seen from the side, growing from the top of the tuber. Little of the cylinder can be seen above ground as the leaves do not protrude much above ground level.

The leaves have translucent, glass-like tops with jelly-like contents, stored for just the opposite extreme of rainy days. Leaf translucence has earned this and several other succulents with similar appearance the local Afrikaans name of waterglasie (little water glass). When drought sets in, the leaf succulence diminishes and the leaves shrivel as the plant survives by using its larder.

This allows the plant to use another hard-times strategy by disappearing into the underground, avoiding the sun. Being out of the sun reduces water loss considerably during the remainder of the dry season. Translucence in the growing season allows sunlight into the leaf, achieving photosynthesis in cells inside the skin, way below the leaf top.

The rounded leaf shape also contributes to water retention by having less surface from which evaporation can occur, per volume of leaf content. A spherical leaf has 40 times more content for the same surface area than a two-dimensional or flat leaf.

The flower stalk can be seen here, emanating between two leaves. This plant was photographed in September near Oudtshoorn, when the leaves were replete with moisture and the plant was flowering (Noltee, Veld & Flora, March 2013; Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2010).

Hits
1541
Photographer
Judd Kirkel
Author
Ivan Latti
 
Back to Category Overview
Powered by JoomGallery