Plant in full to part sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to very little. A very nice container or landscaping plant that will quickly form a large solid mat. This plant comes from the Great Karoo and Vanrhynsdorp in the Western Cape in South Africa north in Namibia. The genus was named after Ernst Rusch (1867-1957), whose farm called Lichtenstein was near Windhoek in Namibia. The specific epithet is a Latin derived adjective meaning "hooked", "barbed" or "bearing hooks" in reference to the leaf shape. This genus has in the past been included with Mesembryanthemum and there have been nomenclatural name changes recently with some Ruschia being moved to Antimima based on the shape of the fruit. The very similar looking Smicrostigma viride seems to not have the crown in the middle of the flower.

Our thanks to Santa Barbara Doctor Dan Ovadia for giving us this unusual plant and to John Bleck for helping us identify it. 

Information displayed on this page about Ruschia uncinata is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.