Ruschia geminiflora
Common names
Loose-flowered pigface, purple vygie
Biostatus
Exotic
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledons other than Composites
Simplified description
Sub-shrub with succulent leaves and bright mauve-purple flowers
Flower colours
Violet/Purple, White
Detailed description
Succulent sub-shrub with weak branches rooting at nodes where they touch the ground. Leaves triquetrous, green, apically recurved. Flowers paired or in cymes, petals purple; filaments white, purple in the middle, anthers pale. Not known to establishing from seed in the wild in NZ.
Similar taxa
Numerous other ‘succulents’ in F. Aizoaceae, including in the genera Ruschia and Lampranthus.
Distribution
Occasional escape from cultivation in coastal dunes, perhaps from garden refuse
Habitat
Coastal dunes
Conservation status
Not applicable
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Synonyms
Mesembryanthemum geminatum Jacq. (later homonym), not of Haw. (1803), Mesembryanthemum geminatum Salm-Dyck, Mesembryanthemum geminiflorum Haw.; Echinus geminatus L. Bol.Has been known in NZ as Ruschia tumidula (Haw.) Schwantes, but this is a different species.
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Year naturalised
1981 (recorded as R. tumidula)
Origin
Western Cape, South Africa
Propagation technique
Easy by cuttings or rooted layered pieces