Frans Noltee

Drosanthemum curtophyllum

It is often rather difficult to identify Drosanthemum species, but in this case the name is a useful pointer (curtophyllum = with shortened leaves).
The plants are shrublets 10-30 cm tall, with branches that are mostly erect, rooting when growing in sand.
The leaves are not just short, but also comparatively fat: 3-5 mm long and 2-4 mm wide.
In September-October the flowers appear; they have white, pale pink or bicoloured petals up to 7 mm long.
The plants occur from the coastal belt in the Namibian Sperrgebiet to Nuwerus in Namaqualand, mostly in sand or gravel, but also in granite.

droscurt-5sept2010-262

droscurt-2011-10-09-6867

droscurt-2011-10-09-6865

Cephalophyllum tetrastichum

Described in 1989, this is still a species that is little known about.
It is only found in sand between rocks in the salt spray zone of South Africa’s northwest coast (near Port Nolloth).
The leaves are trigonous*, placed in four rows (=tetrastichum) and often with a black cover, probably caused by a fungus.
As the flowering time is not mentioned in the literature, it may be of interest to know that the photos below were made in late August and early September.

* trigonous = three-angled in cross-section

Drosanthemum subplanum

This low-growing shrublet has creeping, rarely rooting branches and leaves 8-14 mm long and about 3 mm wide and thick, with small, rough papillae.
In September the plants are covered with pink flowers on conspicuously hairy stalks; the petals are to 13 mm long.
The species occurs in the Calvinia-Clanwilliam area.

drossubp-2517

drossubp-2520

drossubp-2516

drossubp-2515

drossubp-2518

Crassula alpestris ssp. massonii

Four of the six species belonging to the section Columnares of Crassula are more or less well known (barklyi, congesta, pyramidalis and -of course- columnaris).
One other (C. multiceps) I have never even seen and the subject of this post is not widely known either.

It is a small, more or less erect plant, 8-25 cm tall when in flower, sometimes with several short branches at the base. The green to brown leaves are normally all about the same length (usually 5-8 mm but sometimes to 1.5 cm). They often covered with sand particles.
In September-November, the main stem bears many small rounded inflorescences on the upper part of the flower stalk.

The plants occur from Vanrhynsdorp to Calvinia, Worcester and Montagu on sandy or gravelly slopes (often facing south).

Euphorbia eustacei (part 2 of 2)

eupheust-2009-12-24074

eupheust-2009-12-24078

eupheust-73542012-01-29

eupheust-0943

eupheustDSC_3851

Euphorbia eustacei (part 1 of 2)

This species occurs in the western Karoo from Matjiesfontein to near Calvinia and is closely related to E. loricata and E. multifolia. (Peter Bruyns in “Plants of the Greater Cape Floristic Region”, published in 2013, even considers it a synonym of E. loricata).

The plants form rounded cushions to about 15 cm tall and to 30 cm or more in diameter, with many branches, which usually completely hide the main stem.
The 2-5 cm long white spines, which are in fact modified peduncles, are very obvious in the dry season; in winter and spring they are partly hidden by the up to 4 cm long leaves.

Euphorbia septentrionalis ssp. septentrionalis

Plants belonging to this subspecies occur fairly widespread in northeast Uganda and northwest Kenya in sandy rocky soils, usually in the open at altitudes between 1075 and 1850 m.

They have a thick fleshy root with densely tufted, more or less round branches, which are 5-8 mm thick and erect to 15 cm tall or creeping to 50 (-100) cm long.
The branches bear tubercles to 2 cm apart in 4 series, with triangular spine shields 6 x 1.5 mm in size and spines 5-15 mm long; they differ considerably in colouring, from bright green often with darker longitudinal stripes to greyish-green with purplish stripes.

Cultivated plant

Kalanchoe marmorata

This beautiful species occurs widespread from DR Congo and Tanzania to Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia on rocky slopes in wooded areas and cultivated lands at altitudes between 1200 and 2400 m.

It is also often cultivated as an ornamental as well as medicinal plant.

It has upright stems (often creeping at the base) 0.5-1.3 m. or more tall, with leaves up to 25 cm long and about 13 cm wide which are often marbled with brown to purple markings on both sides.
The inflorescences are 30 cm or more tall and the flowers are white (rarely cream), sometimes flushed with pale pink. The flower have long tubes, usually between 4.5 and 12 cm long.

Euphorbia capsaintemariensis

There is only one place in the world where this species is known to occur: Tanjona Vohimena, the southernmost tip of Madagascar*.
On this stark, wind-swept limestone terrace about 100 m above sea level, the species occupies an area of less than a km².
Old plants possess a large turnip-shaped root to 30 cm long and to 10 cm wide, topped by a densely branched crown to 30 cm in diameter. In habitat the branches creep along the ground as a result of the constant wind; in cultivation they are more or less erect.
The leaves form rosettes at the tips of the branches, they are to 25 x 8 mm in size and green to red-brown.

* The old name for this is Cap Sainte Marie, which explains the specific epithet.

Plant in cultivation; scanned slide

Pachypodium horombense

In the dormant state, without leaves and flowers, this species is difficult to distinguish from P. densiflorum and P. rosulatum. They share the same habit: low, multi-branched shrubs up to 1.5 m in diameter and up to 1 m tall.

P. horombense is named after the Horombé plateau in the southern highlands of Madagascar, where it often occurs in great numbers on granite rocks.
The inflorescence has an erect peduncle of no less than 60 cm tall, with broadly cup-shaped flowers 1.7-2.3 cm in diameter.
According to Werner Rauh in his great book on the succulents of Madagascar, this is:
“the most beautiful Pachypodium species in cultivation”.