Orbea paradoxa (I.Verd.) L.C.Leach

Dwarf succulent forming small clumps (up to 150 mm diam.) connected underground by rhizomes up to 100 mm long. Stems 30-60 mm long, 4-8 mm thick (excluding teeth), slender, above-ground parts erect, grey-green mottled with purple-brown; tubercles 5-15 mm long, arranged into 4 obtuse rows along stems with groove between rows, tapering into prominent conical acute tooth often somewhat flattened above towards apex, with 1-3 pairs of ascending also sometimes somewhat flattened denticles shortly below apex. Inflorescence 1 per stem near base, of 1-3 extremely foul-smelling flowers developing successively on peduncle <5 mm long; pedicel 8-10 mm long, spreading with ascending apex, holding flower facing upwards; sepals 4-6 mm long, 1.5 mm broad at base, ovate-acuminate. Corolla 18-32 mm diam., campanulate, rigidly fleshy; outside smooth, pale green with longitudinal purplish lines; inside smooth and somewhat shiny, with irregular transverse pink to dark red or purple markings on white or cream around and below bases of lobes with markings fading and becoming finer towards tips where background colour faintly greenish, dark to pale maroon on annulus and inside tube, sometimes with white ring just outside mouth of tube; tube 6-8 mm long, 7 mm broad, cupular, slightly constricted at mouth by prominent inward-pointing fleshy pentagonal to circular annulus 2-3 mm tall, with stiff erect acute bristles up to 0.75 mm long towards base around gynostegium; lobes 6-10 mm long, 6-10 mm broad at base, ovate-deltate, slightly convex above, with clavate vibratile cilia <1.5 mm long along margin of lower half. Corona 2.5-3.0 mm tall, 5-6 mm broad, raised slightly above base of tube on very short (0.5 mm) pentagonal stipe; outer lobes 1.5-2.0 mm long, 1.8-2.0 mm broad, ± rectangular or ovate with deltoid upturned apex, deeply concave on upper surface especially towards base, yellow suffused with brown to dark red towards base and along margins to wholly maroon above; inner lobes ±1 mm long, adpressed to backs of anthers, exceeding them and meeting in centre sometimes rising in small column there, linear, obtuse, with slight dorsal swelling towards base.