''Cephalophyllum purpureo-album'' is a plant

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

in the family

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae, or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing 135 genera and about 1800 species. They are commonly known as ice plants or carpet weeds. They are often called vygies in South Africa and Ne ...

, endemic to the

Western Cape Province The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Description

A compact succulent groundcover, with dark green, slender, slightly cylindrical leaves, and rich, yellow (rarely purple) flowers. This species develops runners each year, as axes of its inflorescences. It can be distinguished from its close relative '' Cephalophyllum diversiphyllum'' by its more slender, almost cylindrical leaves. In the western parts of its range, where the rainfall is higher, the leaves also tend to be longer and thicker.

Distribution and habitat

This species is endemic to the southern karooid parts of the

. It occurs from Worcester in the west, through the

Robertson Karoo Robertson Karoo is a semi-arid vegetation type, restricted to sections of the Breede River Valley, Western Cape Province, South Africa. It is a subtype of Succulent Karoo (geographically an extension of the "Little Karoo") and is characterised by ...

and western

Little Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hard veld") is a semi- desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ...

. Its ecological preference is relatively open or exposed areas in succulent karoo /

renosterveld Renosterveld is a term used for one of the major plant communities and vegetation types of the Cape Floristic Region (Cape Floral Kingdom) which is located in southwestern and southeastern South Africa, in southernmost Africa. It is an ecoregion ...

vegetation, usually growing in gravelly sandy-loam, overlaying quartzites or sandstones. The rainfall in its range is between 200 and 400 mm per year.''Cephalophyllum purpureo-album'' - SANBI Redlist
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References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17244551 purpureo-album Renosterveld