Sarcozona


Sarcozona, commonly known as pigfaces, is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the family Aizoaceae, both species endemic to Australia. They are small, erect or low-lying, succulent perennials with leaves that are triangular in cross-section and arranged in opposite pairs, and daisy-like flowers with twenty to eighty petal-like staminodes and up to 150 stamens.

Description

Plants in the genus Sarcozona are small, erect to low-lying or more or less prostrate, succulent, glabrous perennials with sessile leaves arranged in opposite pairs, stem-clasping and triangular in cross-section. The flowers are daisy-like and arranged singly or in pairs with two leaves fused together and partly enclosing the flowers. The perianth is tube-shaped with four or five lobes, with between twenty and eighty petal-like staminodes surrounding between 20 and 150 white stamens and four styles. The fruit is a succulent capsule containing a large number of seeds.

Taxonomy

The genus Sarcozona was first formally described in 1934 by John [McConnell Black] in Royal Society of [South Australia|Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia]. The first species he described was S. pulleinei, now known as S. praecox.

Species list

The following species are accepted by the Australian [Plant Census] as at October 2020: