Succulent forming mat to 1 m diam. or more, occasionally rhizomatous. Stems 30-120 mm long, 10-25 mm thick (excluding teeth), decumbent, occasionally subterranean for short distances then erect above ground, grey-green mottled with red-brown; tubercles 6-10 mm long, usually joined into 4 broadly obtuse angles along stem with groove between angles, laterally flattened, tapering into conical to slightly laterally-flattened deltoid acute spreading tooth, usually with stipular denticles near apex. Inflorescence 1(-2) per stem in lower half, of 3-30 flowers opening ± simultaneously from short peduncle, with several subulate bracts; pedicel 12-30 mm long, 3-4 mm thick; sepals 5-8 mm long, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate. Corolla 35-65 mm diam., rotate; outside smooth, pale cream-green; inside irregularly rugulose-papillate except in tube, uniformly yellow to red-brown or blotched with yellow on red-brown to nearly black; tube ±2 mm deep, shallowly cupular, containing base of gynostegium, with corolla distinctly thickened around mouth; lobes 18-35 mm long, 6-15 mm broad at base, spreading, narrowly lanceolate, attenuate-acuminate, with vibratile clavate cilia along margins. Corona ±6 mm tall, 10 mm broad, raised slightly above base of tube on short pentagonal stipe <1 mm long, red-to purple-brown or blackish sometimes with yellow edges to outer lobes; outer lobes ±2 mm long, 3 mm broad, subquadrate, nearly contiguous so that 5 lobes almost appear to form cup with circular edge, with several radial slightly raised ridges on upper surface and darker with secretion between innermost of these, apex truncate-emarginate to toothed; inner lobes 0.8-1.0 mm long, adpressed to backs of anthers for at least half anthers’ length but not exceeding anthers, towards base somewhat dorsiventrally flattened then narrowing and distinctly laterally flattened, with obtuse indistinct apex pressed to anthers, with erect and somewhat recurved dorsal horn (2.5-3.0 mm long) behind apex usually with smaller slender horn behind it, without dorsal gibbosities near base.
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A herb with underground stems or rhizomes. It has succulent stems and keeps growing from year to year. It grows 12 cm high. It forms mats 1 m across. The stems are up to 12 cm long and 1-3 cm thick. The flowers are in groups of 3-30 with one group per stem. They are pale cream or green outside and yellow to red inside. The flowers have an unpleasant smell like rotten meat. There are some subspecies.
It is a subtropical plant. It suits hot arid, places. It grows in areas with a rainfall under 500 mm per year. It grows in places with a marked dry season. The dry season can be 6-11 months. It grows in deep, well-drained soils. In southern Africa it grows between 500-1,700 m above sea level. It can grow in arid places.
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