'' has smooth "potato-shaped" stems and tiny, cream-coloured flowers. '', the type species of the genus, showing its wider, triangular flower lobes.
(Duvalia caespitosa
subsp. vestita''). '', one of the commonest and most widespread species, from the west of
South Africa Vegetative The
Duvalia species are succulent, perennial plants with low, planar growth. The stems are clavate, cylindrical to spherical, in cross-section four-, five-or six-edged, and to about 10 inches long. They can range from green, gray to mottled reddish in color. The stems of some species, such as the rounded
Duvalia parviflora, are distinctive, and these species can be identified even when not in flower. However the stems are very variable, and most
Duvalia species can only be distinguished from each other when the flower is seen. The stems are superficially very similar to those of the related genus
Piaranthus, and the two are often confused when not in flower. In cross-section,
Duvalia stems are sometimes five or six sided (
Piaranthus stems are always four-sided in cross-section). To accurately distinguish them however, it is necessary to examine the flowers.
Floral The distinctive flowers are on long, bare stalks, which grow from the base of the stems. Each flower has five thin, elongated
petal-like lobes, radiating in a star-shape, from a central raised disk or
annulus. The colour of most species flowers is shades of reddish brown, except for those of the rare
Duvalia parviflora which are cream-coloured. The hermaphroditic flowers measure 1–5 cm in diameter, and have five parts. The crown is yellow ocher, brown, red to dark purple. The five corolla lobes are flat or folded along the middle nerve. ==Distribution==