''Glottiphyllum regium'' is a rare

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 ...

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

plant, in the family

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae, or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is d ...

. It is known locally as "koeispene" ("cow-nipples" in the

Afrikaans language Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch dialects, Dutch vernacular of Holland, Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German set ...

). It is restricted to a small arid area near

Calitzdorp Calitzdorp is a town on the Western side of the Little or Klein Karoo in the Western Cape Province of South Africa and lies on South Africa's Route 62. The farm Buffelsvallei, on which Calitzdorp stands, was granted to Jacobus Johannes and Matt ...

in the

Western Cape 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 southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Description

This is the largest species of its genus, with leaves over in length. The leaves are bright green, upturned, fleshy and are born in pairs. The two leaves in a leaf-pair are a very similar size, unlike many other species of ''

Glottiphyllum ''Glottiphyllum'' is a genus of about 57 species of succulent subtropical plants of the family Aizoaceae. It is closely related to the ''Gibbaeum'' and '' Faucaria'' genera. The name comes from ancient Greek γλωττίς ''glottis'' "tongue" an ...

''. The leaf-pairs grow in a decussate arrangement (each leaf-pair at right angles to the previous one, rather than all in the same two distichous rows). The leaf also does not have a swollen base (unlike ''

Glottiphyllum cruciatum ''Glottiphyllum cruciatum'' is a rare species of succulent plant, of the family Aizoaceae. It is indigenous to arid areas near Oudtshoorn in the Western Cape, South Africa. The plant has many synonyms including ''Glottiphyllum angustum''. Desc ...

''). The seed capsules are soft and spongy, with high rims.Heidrun E.K. Hartmann, Horst Gölling: ''A monograph on the genus Glottiphyllum (Mesembryanthema, Aizoaceae)''. In: Bradleya. No. 11, 1993, p.40

References

regium Taxa named by N. E. Brown {{Aizoaceae-stub