Noon flowers are common across Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and are often just called pigface. These low growing succulents form stunning carpets of bright pink flowers in the spring and summer.
They are generally hardy plants able to survive well in salt marsh areas. The modified leaves are plump with retained water.
The native rounded noon flower found in Jawbone's saltmarsh looks more delicate that the introduced species. They can be easily distinguished by the shape of the leaves. For the rounded noon flower, the leaf is almost round in cross-section, unlike the triangular cross-section of the introduced variety. Both can be found in equal abundance on the edges of the Rifle Range housing estate, with mostly just the rounded noon flower found nearer the shoreline of the marine sanctuary.