Seasonal Wild Flowers

Sickle-leaved Dewplant

Lampranthus falciformis

Aizoaceae

June to September

It is found in the Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Suffolk and Lundy

Island, Devon.

For a map see the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland –

It is a neophyte intoduced to the UK from South Africa in the

early 1800s and is cultivated in coastal gardens.

It was found to have escaped and naturalised by the early 1900s and

is found in hedge banks and rocky places such as cliffs, quarrries

and walls.

Sickle-leaved Dewplant is a small, evergreen succulent shrub growing

up to 30cm.

Flowers are terminal on erect stems.

They are up to 4.5cm across and range in colour from pink to purple.

There are numerous narrow petals and numerous yellow stamens.

There are 5 broard stigmas.

The fruit capsules are dark and comprise 5 valves.

Reproduction is by vegetative regeneration and by seed.

The leaves are up to 2cm long with 1 straight side giving the

sickle-like shape. They are triangular in cross-section succulent

and spotted.

The stems are red and woody.

Sickle-leaved Dewplant on wall, Isles of Scilly

Pink petals and numerous stamens

Centre of flower with 5 broad stigmas

Leaves and 5-part seed capsules on erect flower stems

Close-up of succulent leaves - slight points, spotted

triangular in cross-section

Woody stem, sickle-shaped leaves