Pale blue-green Apatesia helianthoides leaves bear their tips erectly in the photo. Pointed tips outnumber rounded ones here, while the occasional multi-tipped or skew-tipped one contradicts inflexible leaf-shape definition.

The margins are entire and covered in tiny water cells, while the thinly succulent, flat blades have scaly surface crystals. Not all these features are easy to see, at least not with the naked eye or in the photo (Le Roux, et al, 2005; Leistner, (Ed.), 2000; Eliovson, 1990; Herre, 1971; iNaturalist).