Sarcozona is a small genus of two succulent perennial plants in the family Aizoaceae (order Caryophyllales), commonly known as pigfaces. Both species are endemic to Australia. The genus was first formally described in 1934 by the South Australian botanist John McConnell Black in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia.
Plants in Sarcozona are small, erect to prostrate, glabrous succulents. Their leaves are sessile, arranged in opposite pairs, stem-clasping, and triangular in cross-section — a characteristic shared with related genera in Aizoaceae. The flowers are daisy-like, borne singly or in pairs, with a tube-shaped perianth of four to five lobes. Each flower carries between twenty and eighty petal-like staminodes surrounding up to 150 white stamens and four styles. The fruit is a succulent capsule containing numerous seeds.
The two accepted species are Sarcozona praecox, which ranges across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia, and Sarcozona bicarinata, restricted to South Australia and Western Australia. S. praecox was originally described as Carpobrotus praecox by Ferdinand von Mueller before being transferred to Sarcozona.
Distribution
Both species of Sarcozona are endemic to Australia. Sarcozona praecox has a broad distribution spanning New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia. Sarcozona bicarinata has a more restricted range, occurring only in South Australia and Western Australia.
Taxonomy Notes
Sarcozona was established in 1934 by John McConnell Black, who published the genus in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia. The first species he described, S. pulleinei, is now treated as S. praecox. The genus belongs to the family Aizoaceae within the order Caryophyllales and is accepted by the Australian Plant Census, which recognises two species.
