For plant nerds only. Muggles stay away!

Acanthopsis disperma

It's tiny. It's spiny. Annual to boot. But it's Acanthaceous (and blue!)--exactly my kind of plant. We saw this all over the hills around the West end of the Orange River--each time looking and growing differently. Sort of like a stunted Ajuga with an attitude.
 

What a disheveled little munchkin! Not for neatniks, I can assure you! Spell check doesn't think neatniks is a word--Oy Vey!

Presumably early in its growth cycle it still has basal leaves. I don't think they last long.

But the central cone-like flower stalk begins to rise...I know I should have cleared all that white dead stuff to try and make it prettier. HA!

There never seem to be many flowers poking out at one time...

How fun it would be to haver this poking out of my crevice garden (my granite is almost identical--loaded with pink feldspar!)

Aha! Two flowers at once on this floriferous imp!

In places they made huge colonies--most of these are probably last year's dead cones.

A plant I am never apt to find on a seed list--but I couldn't resist photographing it whenever we stumbled on a colony. I confess--I am a plant nerd!

The appearance is far more cactus like than Acanthoid, to my eyes--like some strange dark form of Echinocereus. But I can assure you this is what this plant does in its final stages...I confess that I did try and poke around to see if there were seed: it's prickly as a cactus I can assure you. Not that I would have smuggled any back if I'd found seed, of course. Of COURSE!