Fenestraria

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Fenestraria
Fenestraria rhopalophylla
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Caryophyllales Family: Aizoaceae Genus: Fenestraria
Binomial name
Fenestraria rhopalophylla
Synonyms
Fenestraria aurantiaca

Fenestraria is a monotypic genus of succulent plants in the family Aizoaceae. 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. F. rhopalophylla is native to Namibia and Namaqualand 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 pulchra, though the leaves are a slightly different shape and F. rhopalophylla has yellow flowers, compared to the pink flowers of F. pulchra.

[edit] Subspecies

• F. rhopalophylla subsp. rhopalophylla
• F. rhopalophylla subsp. aurantiaca (=*F. aurantiaca)