Synonym: Aptenia cordifolia.
English: Heart-leaf; Heart leaf iceplant; Heart-leaved aptenia; Heart-leaved midday flower; Baby sun rose; Broad leaved mesembryanthemum; Red aptenia; Aptenia.
Afrikaans: Rooi brakvygie; Brakvygie.
Name: means middle-embryo flower.
Zulu: Umjuluka; Ibohlololo; Uncolozi omncane.
Clades:
Aizoaceae;
Aizoales;
Caryophyllidae;
Asteranae;
Angiospermae.
Region: Eastern Cape Province of South Africa; naturalized in Australia, California, Oregon, Florida, Mediterranean.
Habitat: sunny spot; drained soil; covering walls, rockeries and areas bare of grass; very resistant to drought; with moist soil it grows rapidly; intolerant of frost.
Use: ornamental.
Source:
Sense provings.
BotanyCreeping, succulent, short-lived, perennial herb; forms a carpet; 10 centimetres tall, prostrate stems reach up to about 60 centimetres long.
Stems: green and stalk-round.
Leaves: heart-shaped, mid-green, textured, fleshy, small, opposite, ovate to cordate; about 2.5 centimetres long; covered with fine papillae.
Flowers: bright pink, purplish, magenta-purple; solitary flowers; in the leaf axils; open during the day, close at night and on cloudy days; non-functional modified stamens function as petals; stamens are yellow; bloom from spring to fall.
Fruit: a capsule; 1 cm long, with millimeter brown tuberose seeds.
TaxonomyFormerly it was known as Aptenia cordifolia.
Mesembryanthemum cordifolium is the name according to "The Plant List" database. Klak has fused all genera of
Mesembryanthemoideae in the genus Mesembryanthemum. Later botanist preferred to turn back to the old genera of
Mesembryanthemoideae and name it again Aptenia cordifolia.