Baby Sunrose (Mesembryanthemum cordifolium 'Variegata')

OMG, youre right! I dont know how in the world i misidentified this, the photo file's name is literally "variegated m. cordifolium" LOL

I suspect it may actually be a hybrid cultivar known as 'Red Apple' instead (shown here in its variegated form).



See my comments on 'Red Apple' here:

The thread "Plant ID" in Comment concerning Baby Sunrose (Mesembryanthemum 'Red Apple')

There are supposed to be differences in leaf color and shape, but the only way I would readily know them apart is by flower color. The hybrid makes red flowers, the species usually makes pink or purple ones. Most of the red-flowered plants I've seen have been mislabeled.

Very interesting suggestion! If flower color is the determining factor, what feature observed in the subject picture causes these thoughts?

From what little I've been able to observe, location/light intensity plays a big role in the leaves and bloom color intensity, from what I've seen on the plant (and propagated offspring thereof) that I have. Coming inside to hide from winter causes it to look different after a few months than the outside-for-a-while appearance. Whichever one I have, it is not been an easy plant to acclimate to significant outdoor exposure after a winter inside and has been a very shy bloomer, sometimes a pale pink and sometimes so vibrant that it could be construed as red.

Aside from that, I wonder why the punctuation for 'Red Apple' indicates a cultivar if it is actually a hybrid? If it is a cultivar, shouldn't it be either always solid or always variegated? A cultivar is usually very specific in that regard, and the slightest change in variegation usually causes another cultivar name to arise.

If this info is correct, M. haeckelianum has yellow blooms: Dew Plant (Mesembryanthemum haeckelianum)

It would be interesting to breed yellow + pink and get red. Is that unusual? IDK, but am curious.

'Red Apple' is a hybrid cultivar with at least one variegated sport (see comment above). Not all variegated sports have their own names or entry in the database, nor do all reversions of named variegate cultivars. In this case not all variegates are necessarily the same as the one with a name and a trademark, but they should all originate from the same hybrid mother plant. As I understand things, anyway.

The hybrid is much more common than the species here locally, and usually misidentified. That's why I brought up the hybrid. Maybe sedumzz has seen the flowers? I have never encountered plants with intermediate (ambiguous) flower color but that doesn't mean they aren't possible. In my experience they are either true red or pink, not pale red or reddish pink.