Fenestraria
Encyclopedia
Fenestraria is a monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...

 genus of succulent plants in the family Aizoaceae
Aizoaceae
The Family Aizoaceae or Ficoidaceae is a taxon of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing 135 genera and about 1900 species. They are commonly known as stone plants or carpet weeds. Species that resemble stones or pebbles are sometimes called mesembs...

. The species is also called babies toes or window plant.
On each leaf there is transparent window-like area at the top, it is for these window-like structures that the genus is named (Latin: fenestra). In the wild, the plant grows mostly buried by sand. The transparent tips are often above the sand and allow light into the leaves for photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...

. F. rhopalophylla is native to Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

 and Namaqualand
Namaqualand
Namaqualand is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa, extending along the west coast over and covering a total area of 170,000 square miles/440,000 km². It is divided by the lower course of the Orange River into two portions - Little Namaqualand to the south and Great Namaqualand to the...

 in southern Africa. The plants are generally found growing in sandy or calciferous soils under low < 100 mm rainfall.
F. rhopalophylla appears very similar to Frithia
Frithia
Frithia is a genus of plant in family Aizoaceae. It contains the following species:* Frithia pulchra N.E.Br.* Frithia humilis Burgoyne....

pulchra
, though the leaves are a slightly different shape and
F. rhopalophylla has yellow flowers, compared to the pink flowers of F. pulchra.

Subspecies

  • F. rhopalophylla subsp. rhopalophylla with white flowers in autumn
  • F. rhopalophylla subsp. aurantiaca (=*F. aurantiaca) with yellow flowers


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