Commemorating Ernest Rusch of Lichtenstein Farm, Namaqualand, South Africa.
Perennial shrubs, sometimes prostrate. Leaves mostly green, in pairs fused at the base, often with a toothed ridge below, slightly sunken above to give a ship appearance and pointed at the tip, sometimes with dots, the stem visible between pairs. Flowers 1-many, terminal or axillary. Sepals 4-5, free. Petals in 1-several rows. Ovary inferior with 4-5 chambers; ovule placentation parietal.
R. pygmaea (Haw.) Schwantes forms spreading mats and has leaves less than 1.5 cm long with only 2 dissimilar pairs per shoot. R. tumidula (Haw.) Schwantes is a spreading to erect shrub with leaves 2-3 cm long and pink flowers about 2 cm wide; it is naturalised on the coast of the Mornington Peninsula in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria.
Seed or cuttings.
Leaves in pairs with the stem visible between them, often with a toothed ridge below and pointed at the tip.
About 350 species from S and SW 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.
