Huernia humilis (Masson) Haw.

Dwarf succulent forming dense clump up to 300 mm diam. Stems (10)20-30(-40) mm long, 8-20 mm thick (excluding teeth), erect, short and stout often somewhat pyramidal, grey-green occasionally marked with purple; tubercles 2-4 mm long, broadly deltoid, spreading, laterally flattened and joined into 4(-5) angles along stem, tapering to small acute teeth. Inflorescence of 1-5 flowers developing in gradual succession, arising near base of stem from short peduncle (up to 5 mm long) with fine lanceolate bracts ±2 mm long without lateral teeth; pedicel 10-18 mm long, 1.5-2.0 mm thick, ascending then spreading usually holding flower facing horizontally (sometimes upwards); sepals 2.5-5.0 mm long, 1.5-2.0 mm broad at base, ovate, acuminate. Corolla 25-40(-45) mm diam., rotate; outside smooth, cream with 1 heavy (+2 fainter) raised longitudinal veins running down centre of each lobe; inside cream often faintly speckled with red on lobes and more densely blotched with red or maroon on raised slightly shiny annulus to plain red or maroon in tube, occasionally wholly cream, with minute papillae on lobes each with shortly acute rather swollen maroon-tipped apical bristle, sometimes with few stiff slightly clavate dark maroon bristles 1-3 mm long in mouth of tube; tube 4-5 mm long, 6-8 mm broad at mouth, cupular, only slightly to clearly pentagonal, mouth formed by raised annulus (annulus only slightly thickened and forced upwards by strong reflexion of corolla below bases of lobes); lobes 10-12 mm long, 9-17 mm broad at base, spreading to reflexed, ± deltate, acute. Corona ±3.0 mm tall, 2.5-4.0 mm broad, without basal stipe; outer lobes 0.5-1.0 mm long, dark maroon, shortly and obtusely bilobed, spreading to touch base of tube but not fused to it; inner lobes 0.7-1.0 mm long, maroon to orange, adpressed to backs of anthers, shorter than to exceeding them, tapering from broad transverse dorsal gibbosity to small bristly acute apex.