ISI 2020-18. Cheiridopsis denticulata (Haworth) N. E. Brown

This is perhaps the most common and widely cultivated species of this genus of very fleshly-leaved mesembs. It is often seen labelled C. candidissima, the epithet referring to the pale, whitish, erect leaves. The name C. denticulata predates this, and a proliferation of others, by more than 100 years. It refers to the highly desirable, but somewhat fickle, characteristic of the leaves occasionally broadening into a blade at the tip armed with a few prominent teeth like some medieval weapon. One may see a clump with 100 leaves but only a couple of these will show such features. Some selections are more prone to toothiness than others but one can never predict what subtle environmental cue causes them to form and at what stage of maturity. We offer plants from seed collected in the Umdaus region of Namaqualand where it grew in a colony with red-blushed Crassula nudicaulis. HBG 137665. $8.