Schlechteranthus steenbokensis flower and leaves

The flowers of Schlechteranthus steenbokensis grow solitary and short-stalked with small bracts that clasp the stalk halfway to the flower. There are five keeled sepals with membranous margins.

The small, pink-purple petals spread in two to three series around a central cone of stamens and staminodes. Flowering happens for slightly longer than the first half of winter.

The leaves are paired and opposite, joined at the base. The compact, succulent leaf bodies are about triangular to slightly rounded or swollen in cross-section. There is a bulging keel curved in at the top, the leaf-tips mostly mucro-tipped when young. The inner leaf surface is flat, the back curving. The grey-green to blue-green surfaces are nearly smooth, slightly spotted or mottled with faint translucence in the spots against the light (Klak and Bruyns, 2016: Expansion of Schlechteranthus (Ruschioideae, Aizoaceae) to include Polymita, with a new species from Namaqualand, South Africa. SA Journal of Botany, 103(70-77); Smith, et al, 1998; Herre, 1971).