Falkia Repens - 1L

Falkia repens or oortjies (meaning little ears) is a fast-growing, creeping mat-like perennial herb that works well as a groundcover or when combined with other plants. It can grow in sun or shade and looks great when filling in between rocks or when cascading down a container.

Stems (±25mm) are firm and slender and root at the nodes with the plants reaching a height of 50-100mm. Leaves are variously shaped but generally broadly ovate with rounded tips and bases, ±6-25mm in diameter, slightly succulent, green to yellowish, shiny and mat-forming.

Flowers are salverform (trumpet-shaped), solitary (±15mm diameter), white or pink, and flowering time is from late September to December. Fruits are known as schizocarps, dry dehischent fruit that split into two or more separate carpels at maturity. Fruits are buried in the soil by the downward bending of peduncles after flowering; the persistent calyx encloses the ripe fruit, acting as a protective structure. This is known as geocarpy (development of fruits in the ground from flowers that were pollinated above-ground).

Falkia repens is endemic to winter-rainfall areas in the Eastern Cape, often on damp or temporarily inundated soil.