Latin fauces—jaw, referring to the toothed open-mouth appearance of the plants.
Tuft or rosette forming perennial succulents with stem concealed by the leaves at least at first. Leaves thick, cylindrical at the base, triangular towards the tip, often with white spots or warts, the edges with back-pointing bristled teeth. Flowers solitary, terminal, with or without stalks. Sepals 5, unequal, free, ridged, margins membranous. Petals mostly yellow (occasionally orangish) above, reddish to brown below. Ovary with 5-6 chamber; ovules with parietal placentation.
F. albidens N. E. Br. has green leaves with white dots and 3-5 white-bristled teeth on each side. F. tuberculosa (Rolfe) Schwantes is the most commonly cultivated species; it is without white dots but has several pointed wart-like protuberances on the upper leaf surface and margins each of which have 3 major and several minor teeth.
Seed or occasionally cuttings.
Leaves with toothed edges, appearing jaw-like; flowers mostly yellowish.
About 35 species from the Cape of South Africa.
Source: (1997). Aizoaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
