heartleaf iceplant (Aptenia cordifolia)
Description
Aptenia cordifolia is a species of succulent plant in the iceplant family known by the common names heartleaf iceplant and baby sun rose. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word cor for heart (because of the heart-shaped leaves). A creeping plant that forms a carpet of flat-growing perennial herbs in groups on the ground from a base, it is sometimes referred to as the heart-leaved aptenia or heart-leaved midday flower because, like many other representatives of the Aizoaceae, it opens its flowers only during the sunshine of the day. This is a mat-forming perennial herb growing in flat clumps on the ground from a woody base. Stems reach up to about 60 centimetres (24 in) long. Bright pink to purplish flowers appear in the leaf axils and are open during the day. The stems are green and stalk-round. The fleshy, small leaves are opposite, ovate to cordate, about 2.5 centimetres (0.98 in) long and covered with fine papillae. These colored whorls are not petals, but non-functional stamens. The fruit is a capsule of little more than one centimeter in length with millimeter brown tuberose seeds. There is a variegated form.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class:
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Order: Caryophyllales
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Family: Aizoaceae
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Genus: Aptenia
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