Muiria
| Muiria | |
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| Genus: | Muiria (N.E.Br.) Thiede & Klak
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Muiria hortenseae ("Mouse-head") is a rare dwarf species of succulent plant of the family Aizoaceae, indigenous to a very small area in the Little Karoo, Western Cape, South Africa. It is the only species in the monophyletic Muiria genus.
Description
Unlike most other plants in its family, Muiria is covered in soft downy fur (from which it gets its common name) and has leaves that are entirely fused together, into one rounded body.
In the summer it produces white flowers, that tear through the (still living) flesh of the plant. The flesh then withers into a papery sheath, within which the new body forms.[1]
Distribution and habitat
Muiria is indigenous to a tiny arid area of the "Succulent Karoo", near Ladismith in the Western Cape, South Africa. Its habitat is the quartzite rubble that overlay clay soils on the low ridges near the Langeberg Mountains.
In this extremely small range, it has recently suffered an enormous reduction in population and range, due to habitat loss, trampling by stock animals and illegal collecting.[2]
Cultivation
Muiria hortenseae is difficult to cultivate, as it requires sparing but constant watering throughout the year, generous space for its large root system, and a rocky, gritty, well-drained soil. Many cultivators also add a few grains of salt to the soil surface occasionally, to add an alkaline element to the soil.
Propagation is usually by seed, and Muiria sometimes hybridises with Gibbaeum album, with which it shares its natural habitat in the Little Karoo.[3]
References
External links
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