01/03/2025
January Plant Highlight: Cheiridopsis speciosa
Cheiridopsis speciosa comes from northern Namaqualand, an arid area in the northwesern part of South Africa with dry summers and occasional rains during the winter months. As is usual for the genus, plants of Cheiridopsis speciosa grow as low-growing tufts that are never more than a few inches high. Each head in the clump consists of pale blue-green or gray-green leaf-pairs that are fused together at the base, separating like two diverging thumbs higher up. Where the two âthumbsâ meet, a slit separates them.
Like other Cheiridopsis species, C. speciosa has showy brightly colored flowers that emerge in the winter, opening in the middle of the day and closing in the late afternoon. The open flowers are up to 2â
inches in diameter (6 cm), with up to 100 petals arrayed around the outside, and up to 200 stamens grouped at the center. The color is typically in the magenta to purplish-red range, but in some populations red-orange flowers may be encountered.
The fruits of Cheiridopsis speciosa are rounded capsules with 10 chambers, or locules, that contain the tiny seeds. As the seeds ripen, the capsule browns and dries, with 10 slits in its domed top indicating the 10 locules within. The capsuleâs diameter is between .35 and .6 inches (9 to 15 mm). Only after rains do the capsules open, looking like 10-pointed stars and allowing raindrops to splash out seeds. When dry conditions return, the capsules close up again, waiting for another occasion when moisture will repeat the process. -Brian (Curator)
Read more about this month's plant highlight here: https://www.ruthbancroftgarden.org/plants/cheiridopsis-speciosa/
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